1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using PatentFlare ("the Service"), operated by Futurist IP, an Ontario, Canada corporation ("we," "us," or "our"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service. If you are using the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you have authority to bind that organization to these terms.

2. Description of Service

PatentFlare is an AI-assisted claim chart generation tool. The Service uses artificial intelligence to analyze patent claims against product documentation and generate draft claim charts, evidence mappings, and infringement analyses. The Service is provided on an "as available" basis, and we do not guarantee any specific level of uptime or availability.

3. Not Legal Advice

The Service does not provide legal advice. All output generated by PatentFlare — including claim charts, evidence mappings, claim constructions, scores, summaries, and exported documents — is preliminary draft analysis intended solely to assist qualified patent professionals. Output must not be used directly for any legal proceeding, filing, opinion letter, client communication, or litigation support without independent review and verification by a licensed attorney. You acknowledge that AI-generated analysis may be incomplete, inaccurate, or unsuitable for your specific legal matter, and that only a qualified attorney can determine its appropriateness for use. PatentFlare is not a law firm and does not establish an attorney-client relationship with any user.

4. Your Account

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials and for all activity under your account. You must notify us promptly if you become aware of any unauthorized use. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms.

5. Fees, Credits, and Payment

The Service operates on a credit-based system. Each new account receives 1 free credit upon signup, which expires 30 days after account creation. Additional credits may be purchased through the Service. Purchased credits expire 12 months from the date of purchase.

All pricing is in United States Dollars (USD). All purchases are final and non-refundable, except as required by applicable law. If we terminate your account without cause, you are entitled to a pro-rata refund of any unexpired purchased credits remaining at the time of termination.

We may change our pricing at any time upon at least 30 days' advance notice. Price changes do not affect credits already purchased.

Payment is processed by a third-party payment processor. PatentFlare does not store your full credit card or payment card details. You are responsible for any applicable taxes, duties, or governmental levies associated with your purchases.

Volume or bundle pricing may be available and will be governed by a separate written agreement between you and Futurist IP.

6. Your Data

You retain ownership of all data you upload to the Service, including patent information, product materials, and documents. By using the Service, you grant us a limited license to process your data solely to provide the Service to you. We do not claim ownership of your data and will not use it for any purpose other than delivering the Service.

You are responsible for determining whether uploading materials to the Service may affect any applicable legal privilege, work-product protection, or confidentiality obligation.

You represent and warrant that you have all necessary rights to upload and submit all materials you provide to the Service, and that such materials do not infringe any third party's intellectual property rights, trade secrets, or other proprietary rights.

7. Confidentiality

We treat all data you upload as confidential. We will not disclose your data to third parties except (a) to third-party service providers as necessary to operate the Service, including but not limited to infrastructure, AI processing, hosting, and email delivery providers (see our Privacy Policy), (b) with your explicit consent, or (c) as required by law. We implement commercially reasonable security measures, including encryption in transit, encryption at rest, and row-level access controls.

8. Acceptable Use

You agree not to:

Use the Service for any unlawful purpose
Attempt to access other users' data or accounts
Reverse-engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Service
Use automated tools to scrape or overload the Service
Resell or redistribute the Service without our written consent
Exploit, manipulate, or circumvent the credit system, including creating multiple accounts to obtain additional free credits
Share account credentials to allow multiple individuals to use a single account's credits

9. Output Ownership and Export

You own all output generated by the Service from your data, including claim charts, evidence mappings, and analysis results. You may export your analysis as a Microsoft Word (.docx) document for your own use. All exported documents are draft work product and remain subject to the requirements of Section 3 (Not Legal Advice) — they must be reviewed and verified by a licensed attorney before use in any legal context.

PatentFlare makes no representation or warranty regarding the copyrightability of AI-generated output under applicable law. To the extent that PatentFlare or Futurist IP holds any intellectual property rights in AI-generated output, those rights are hereby assigned to you.

10. Intellectual Property

Futurist IP retains all rights, title, and interest in and to the Service, including its software, technology, design, user interface, branding, trademarks, and logos. Nothing in these Terms grants you any right to use Futurist IP's or PatentFlare's name, logo, or branding, except as necessary to use the Service as intended.

11. AI Output Accuracy

AI-generated output may contain errors, including incorrect claim constructions, misidentified evidence, inaccurate scoring, or hallucinated content. You are solely responsible for reviewing and verifying all output before reliance or use. We make no warranty that AI-generated analysis is accurate, complete, or suitable for any particular purpose.

12. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Futurist IP and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to (a) your use of the Service in violation of these Terms, (b) your reliance on AI-generated output without independent legal review, or (c) your infringement of any third party's rights.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Futurist IP shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the Service, including but not limited to damages arising from reliance on AI-generated output, loss of data, or interruption of service. Our total liability for any claim arising from the Service is limited to the greater of (a) the fees you paid to us in the twelve months preceding the claim, or (b) one hundred dollars ($100 USD).

14. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

15. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time, with or without cause, upon notice to you. You may terminate your account at any time by contacting us at contact@patentflare.com. Upon termination, your right to use the Service ceases immediately, and any unused credits are forfeited; provided, however, that if we terminate your account without cause, you are entitled to a pro-rata refund of unexpired purchased credits as described in Section 5. We may retain your data for a reasonable period to comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, or enforce these Terms, after which it will be permanently deleted. Following notice of termination, you will have 30 days to export your data before it is deleted. Sections 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 21, and 22 survive termination.

16. Data Deletion

You may delete individual projects at any time through the Service. Deletion permanently removes the project and all associated data, including uploaded materials and analysis results. For full account deletion, contact us at contact@patentflare.com.

17. Force Majeure

Futurist IP shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performing its obligations under these Terms due to circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including but not limited to acts of God, natural disasters, war, terrorism, pandemics, power outages, internet or telecommunications failures, government actions, or failures of third-party service providers.

18. Age Restriction

The Service is intended for use by individuals who are at least 18 years of age. By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you are at least 18 years old. We do not knowingly collect information from individuals under 18.

19. Changes to Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will provide at least 30 days' advance notice of material changes by email or by posting a notice on the Service. Continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

20. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict-of-law principles. Before initiating any legal proceeding arising from these Terms or the Service, you agree to first contact us and attempt to resolve the dispute through good-faith negotiation for a period of at least 30 days. If the dispute cannot be resolved through negotiation, it shall be resolved in the courts located in the Province of Ontario, Canada.

21. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect. The invalid provision shall be modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable while preserving its original intent.

22. Waiver

Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that provision or the right to enforce it at a later time.

23. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Futurist IP regarding your use of the Service and supersede all prior agreements, understandings, and communications, whether written or oral.

24. Assignment

You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms, in whole or in part, at any time upon notice to you, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, corporate reorganization, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets.

25. Contact Us

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at contact@patentflare.com.