Terms of Use
TERMS OF USE
Last updated: March 27, 2014
Blue Ridge IP Solutions, LLC a North Carolina Limited Liability Corporation, and its affiliates (“Blue Ridge IP”), owns and operates this Web site (microentitycalculator.com), and portions of other Web pages and Web content through which you have accessed these Terms of Use (collectively, the “Site”). By visiting, using and/or submitting information to the Site, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of these Terms of Use (this “Agreement”) and Blue Ridge IP’s Privacy Policy (the “Privacy Policy”).
This Agreement contains an agreement to arbitrate all claims and disclaimers of warranties and liability.
Your Compliance with this Agreement
You acknowledge that this Agreement is supported by reasonable and valuable consideration, the receipt and adequacy of which is hereby acknowledged. Without limiting the foregoing, you acknowledge that such consideration includes, without limitation, your ability to visit, use and/or submit information to the Site.
You represent that you have the capacity to be bound by this Agreement, or if you are acting on behalf of a company or other entity, you have the authority to bind such company or entity. In order to determine your compliance with this Agreement, Blue Ridge IP may monitor your access and use of the Site in accordance with Blue Ridge IP’s Privacy Policy.
Non-Solicitation of Inventors and Applicants
Blue Ridge IP, its owners, employees, and agents agrees to not actively solicit patent drafting or patent filing services from inventors or applicants using this Site who are known to be represented by a registered patent practitioner or law firm.
By way of example, this Site has a form field requesting the name and email address of the patent practitioner currently working with the inventor or applicant filling out a form. Blue Ridge IP will not actively solicit patent services from inventors or applicants who have listed a patent practitioner or patent firm in any documents or electronic forms submitted to this Site.
The Site is Not Intended for Minors
The Site is intended to be accessed and used only by adults and is not directed to minors. As stated in Blue Ridge IP’s Privacy Policy, Blue Ridge IP does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information by anyone under the age of 13 and you should not provide Blue Ridge IP with any information regarding any individual under the age of 13.
Your Access and Use of the Site
Your right to access and use the Site is personal to you and is not transferable by you to any other person or entity. You are only entitled to access and use the Site for lawful purposes and pursuant to the terms and conditions of this Agreement and the Privacy Policy.
Your access and use of the Site may be interrupted from time to time for any of several reasons, including, without limitation, the malfunction of equipment, periodic updating, maintenance or repair of the Site or other actions that Blue Ridge IP, in its sole discretion, may elect to take. Blue Ridge IP reserves the right to suspend or discontinue the availability of the Site and/or any portion or feature of the Site at any time in its sole discretion and without prior notice.
Any action by you that, in Blue Ridge IP’s sole discretion: (i) violates the terms and conditions of this Agreement and/or the Privacy Policy; (ii) restricts, inhibits or prevents any access, use or enjoyment of the Site; or (iii) through the use of the Site, defames, abuses, harasses, offends or threatens, shall not be permitted, and may result in your loss of the right to access and use the Site. You shall not metatag, provide links to or frame the Site without Blue Ridge IP’s prior express written permission.
Your Access and Use of Services on the Site
Subject to the terms of this Agreement and the Privacy Policy, Blue Ridge IP may offer you various services on or through the Site (the “Services”). Below are terms and conditions governing these Services.
You Must Maintain the Integrity of Your Information. To use certain Services, you may be required to provide Blue Ridge IP with information about you (“Your Information”). If you provide Your Information to Blue Ridge IP then you agree to provide true, current, complete and accurate information, and not to misrepresent your identity. You also agree to keep Your Information current and to update Your Information if any of Your Information changes. Blue Ridge IP’s collection, use and disclosure of Your Information is governed by this Agreement and Blue Ridge IP’s Privacy Policy.
You Must Maintain the Security of Any Password Issued to You. If the Site requires you to create a password to use certain portions of the Site, then it is your sole responsibility to maintain the security of that password. You agree that Blue Ridge IP shall not be liable for any loss that you may suffer as a result of the authorized or unauthorized use of your password by a third party. You shall not allow any person under the age of 18 to use any Service via your registration or password.
You Must Notify Blue Ridge IP of a Breach. You agree to immediately notify Blue Ridge IP of any unauthorized use of your password, any unauthorized use of any account that you may have with Blue Ridge IP, any violation of this Agreement, or any other breach of security known to you in connection with any product or service available on the Site by sending an email to: brad.fach@BlueRidgeIP.com.
You Acknowledge and Agree that Blue Ridge IP is an not an attorney, not a law firm and is not a substitute for an attorney or a law firm. Furthermore, You Aknowledge that Blue Ridge IP is not an accountant or financial provider and is no subsitute for an accountant or financial provider. Instead, Blue Ridge IP, through the Site, may help you determine your eligability to qualify as a Micro Entity based on information provided by you. Blue Ridge IP does not, and will not, make any guarantees, warrants, or representations that you actually qualify as a Micro Entity. Use this site and information at your own risk.
Fees and Payments
Access and use of the Site may be free. At any time, Blue Ridge IP may choose to charge fees for various premium features and services, and Blue Ridge IP will notify you of those charges at the time that Blue Ridge IP offers features and services for a fee. Blue Ridge IP may, in its sole discretion, and by notifying you on the Site, change this policy and begin charging for access to the Site and other features and services, and Blue Ridge IP may, in its sole discretion, add, remove or change the features and services Blue Ridge IP offers or the fees (including the amount and type of fees) Blue Ridge IP charges at any time.
Public Forums
The Site may act as a venue, through its blogs, messaging, chat rooms, bulletin boards and other forums (collectively, the “Forums”), allowing the users of the Site to contribute information and make statements (“User Generated Content”). Blue Ridge IP is not involved in the actual transmission of User Generated Content provided for in the Forums. As a result, Blue Ridge IP does not approve or endorse any User Generated Content in the Forums, and you hereby acknowledge and agree that Blue Ridge IP has no control over the quality, correctness, timeliness, safety, truth, accuracy or legality of any User Generated Content provided by you or any other person or entity in the Forums. You may find User Generated Content posted in the Forums by other users to be offensive, harmful, inaccurate or deceptive. Please use caution and common sense, and do not rely solely on User Generated Content published in the Forums. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, and although Blue Ridge IP does not regularly review User Generated Content provided for in the Forums, Blue Ridge IP reserves the right, but not the obligation, to remove or edit any User Generated Content in the Forums.
Transmissions, Submissions and Postings to the Site
If you transmit, submit or post information to the Site that is not Federally trademarked and/or copyrighted, you automatically grant Blue Ridge IP and its affiliates and assigns the worldwide, fully-paid, royalty-free, exclusive right and license to use, copy, format, adapt, publish and/or incorporate any or all such information in any media whatsoever, including, without limitation, the Content (as defined below). Provided that you have obtained prior written permission from Blue Ridge IP to transmit, submit or post information to the Site that is Federally trademarked and/or copyrighted, you automatically grant Blue Ridge IP and its assigns the worldwide, fully-paid, royalty-free right to use, copy, format, adapt, publish and/or incorporate any or all such information in any media whatsoever, including, without limitation, the Content.
You shall not transmit, submit or post the following to the Site:
Information that infringes Blue Ridge IP’s or any third party’s copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights;
Information that violates any law, statute, ordinance or regulation;
Information that is trade libelous, unlawfully threatening, unlawfully harassing, defamatory, obscene, explicit or vulgar, or otherwise injurious to Blue Ridge IP or third parties or that infringes on Blue Ridge IP’s or any third party’s rights of publicity or privacy;
Information that contains any viruses, worms, Trojan horses, trap doors, back doors, easter eggs, time bombs, cancelbots or other code or computer programming routines that contain contaminating or destructive properties or that are intended to damage, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data or personal information;
Information containing or constituting chain letters, mass mailings, political campaigning, or any form of “spam”;
Information that is false, inaccurate or misleading;
Commercial advertisements or solicitations without written permission from Blue Ridge IP; or
Federally Trademarked and/or Copyrighted information without written permission from Blue Ridge IP.
Although Blue Ridge IP does not regularly review your transmissions, submissions or postings, Blue Ridge IP reserves the right (but not the obligation) to edit, refuse to post or remove your transmissions, submissions or postings. Pursuant to the Privacy Policy, Blue Ridge IP may review transmissions, submissions or postings made by you to determine, in its sole discretion, your compliance with this Agreement.
You are solely responsible for all your transmissions, submissions or postings (i.e., your own User Generated Content) and the consequences of transmitting, submitting or posting them.
Blue Ridge IP’s Intellectual Property Rights
Blue Ridge IP’s names, graphics, logos, page headers, button icons, scripts, and service names are trademarks or trade dress of Blue Ridge IP in the United States and/or other countries (collectively, the “Proprietary Marks”). You may not use the Proprietary Marks without the prior express written permission of Blue Ridge IP, which permission may be withheld in Blue Ridge IP’s sole discretion. Blue Ridge IP makes no proprietary claim to any third-party names, trademarks or service marks appearing on the Site. Any third-party names, trademarks, and service marks are property of their respective owners.
The information, advice, data, software and content viewable on, contained in, or downloadable from the Site (collectively, the “Content”), including, without limitation, all text, graphics, charts, pictures, photographs, images, line art, icons and renditions, are copyrighted by, or otherwise licensed to, Blue Ridge IP or its Content suppliers. Blue Ridge IP also owns a copyright of a collective work in the selection, coordination, arrangement, presentation, display and enhancement of the Content (the “Collective Work”). All software used on the Site (the “Software”) is the property of Blue Ridge IP or its software vendors and is protected by United States and international copyright laws. Viewing, reading, printing, downloading or otherwise using the Content and/or the Collective Work does not entitle you to any ownership or intellectual property rights to the Content, the Collective Work or the Software.
You shall be solely responsible for any damage resulting from your infringement of Blue Ridge IP’s or any third party’s intellectual property rights regarding the Trademarks, the Content, the Collective Work, the Software and/or any other harm incurred by Blue Ridge IP or its affiliates as a direct or indirect result of your copying, distributing, redistributing, transmitting, publishing or using the same for purposes that are contrary to the terms and conditions of this Agreement.
Your Use of the Content
Blue Ridge IP grants you a limited license to access, print, download or otherwise make personal use of the Content and the Collective Work in the form of: (i) one machine-readable copy; (ii) one backup copy; and (iii) one print copy, for your non-commercial use; provided, however, that you shall not delete any proprietary notices or materials with regard to the foregoing manifestations of the Content and the Collective Work. You may not modify the Content or the Collective Work or utilize them for any commercial purpose or any other public display, performance, sale, or rental, decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble the Content and the Collective Work, or transfer the Content or the Collective Work to another person or entity.
Access and Interference
The Site contains robot exclusion headers. You agree that you will not use any robot, spider, scraper, deep link or other similar automated data gathering or extraction tools, program, algorithm or methodology to access, acquire, copy or monitor the Site or any portion of the Site or for any other purpose, without Blue Ridge IP’s express written permission which may be withheld in Blue Ridge IP’s sole discretion. Additionally, you agree that you will not: (i) take any action that imposes, or may impose in Blue Ridge IP’s sole discretion an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on Blue Ridge IP’s infrastructure; (ii) copy, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, distribute or publicly display any content (except for your personal information) from the Site without the prior written permission of Blue Ridge IP and the appropriate third party, as applicable; (iii) interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or any activities conducted on the Site; or (iv) bypass Blue Ridge IP’s robot exclusion headers or other measures Blue Ridge IP may use to prevent or restrict access to the Site. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Blue Ridge IP grants the operators of public search engines permission to use spiders to copy materials from the Site for the sole purpose and solely to the extent necessary for creating publicly available search indices of the materials on the Site, but not caches or archives of such materials. Blue Ridge IP reserves the right to revoke these exceptions either generally or in specific cases. You shall not collect or harvest any personally identifiable information, including account names, from the Site. You shall not use any communication systems provided on the Site (such as Forums or email) for any commercial or solicitation purposes. You shall not solicit for commercial purposes any users of the Site without Blue Ridge IP’s express, written permission, which permission may be withheld in Blue Ridge IP’s sole discretion.
Electronic Communications
When you visit the Site or send email to Blue Ridge IP, you are communicating with Blue Ridge IP electronically. You consent to receive communications from Blue Ridge IP electronically. Although Blue Ridge IP may choose to communicate with you by regular mail, Blue Ridge IP may also choose to communicate with you by e-mail or by posting notices on the Site. You agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures and other communications that Blue Ridge IP provides to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.
Blue Ridge IP Makes No Representations or Warranties Regarding the Content
The Content and all services and products associated with The Site are provided to you on an “as-is” and “as available” basis. Blue Ridge IP makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to the operation of The Site or the information, content, materials, products or services included on or associated with The Site. You expressly agree that your use of The Site and all products and services included on or associated with The Site is at your sole risk.
Blue Ridge IP does not make any representations, warranties or guarantees, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, correctness, or completeness of the Content or the services and products associated with The Site, nor the safety, reliability, title, timeliness, completeness, merchantability, conformity or fitness for a particular purpose of the Content or the services and products associated with The Site. It is your sole responsibility to independently evaluate the accuracy, correctness or completeness of the Content and the services and products associated with The Site. Blue Ridge IP makes no representation, warranty or guarantee that the Content that may be available for downloading from The Site is free of infection from any viruses, worms, Trojan horses, trap doors, back doors, easter eggs, time bombs, cancelbots or other code or computer programming routines that contain contaminating or destructive properties or that are intended to damage, detrimentally interfere with, surreptitiously intercept or expropriate any system, data or personal information. Blue Ridge IP does not make any representations, warranties or guarantees, express or implied, regarding any determinations or uses of forms provided on or through the site.
WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT BLUE RIDGE IP IS NOT A LAW FIRM, ACCOUNTANT, FINANCIAL PROVIDER OR OTHER SERVICE PROVIDER. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT BLUE RIDGE IP MAY BE SOLELY AN INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN YOU AND SUCH SERVICE PROVIDERS AND, THEREFORE, BLUE RIDGE IP EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY FOR ANY CONTENT, PRODUCTS, FORMS, OR SERVICES PROVIDED BY SUCH SERVICE PROVIDERS.
The Content is intended only to assist you. Blue Ridge IP recommends that you obtain additional information and advice of your patent attorney, law firm, or accountant and other financial advisors who are fully aware of your individual circumstances.
The Site is controlled and offered by Blue Ridge IP from Blue Ridge IP’s facilities in the United States of America. Blue Ridge IP makes no representations that the Site is appropriate or available for use in other jurisdictions. If you access or use the Site from other jurisdictions, then you do so by your own volition and are solely responsible for compliance with local law.
Limitations on Blue Ridge IP’s Liability
Blue Ridge IP shall in no event be responsible to, or liable to, you, or any third party, whether in contract, warranty, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, for any damages, including, but not limited to, special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages that include, but are not limited to, damages for any loss of profit, revenue or business, as a direct or indirect result of: (i) your breach or violation of the terms and conditions of this Agreement; (ii) your access and use of The Site; (iii) your DELAY IN ACCESSING OR inability to access or use The Site for any reason; (iv) your downloading of any of the Content or the Collective Work for your use; (v) your reliance upon or use of the Content or the Collective Work, OR (VI) ANY INFORMATION, FORMS, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS OR SERVICES OBTAINED THROUGH The Site, OR OTHERWISE ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF The Site, WHETHER RESULTING IN WHOLE OR IN PART, FROM BREACH OF CONTRACT, TORTUOUS BEHAVIOR, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF BLUE RIDGE IP AND/OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAD BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF DAMAGES. BLUE RIDGE IP’S LIABILITY AND THE LIABILITY OF ITS AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS, SHAREHOLDERS, REPRESENTATIVES, AND AGENTS ARISING OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT SHALL NOT EXCEED $100 OR THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO USE THE SITE.
YOU SPECIFICALLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT BLUE RIDGE IP SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR USER GENERATED CONTENT OR THE DEFAMATORY, OFFENSIVE OR ILLEGAL CONDUCT OF ANY THIRD PARTY, AND THAT THE RISK OF HARM OR DAMAGE FROM SUCH USER GENERATED CONTENT AND THIRD-PARTY CONDUCT RESTS ENTIRELY WITH YOU.
YOU AND BLUE RIDGE IP AGREE THAT ANY CAUSE OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE SITE MUST COMMENCE WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES. OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.
Certain state laws do not allow limitations on implied warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain damages. If these laws apply to you, some or all of the above disclaimers, exclusions or limitations may not apply to you.
Your Indemnification of Blue Ridge IP
You shall defend, indemnify and hold harmless Blue Ridge IP and its officers, directors, shareholders, employees, independent contractors, agents, representatives and affiliates from and against all claims and expenses, including, but not limited to, attorneys’ fees, arising out of, or attributable to: (i) any breach or violation of this Agreement by you; (ii) your failure to provide accurate, complete and current personally identifiable information requested or required by Blue Ridge IP; (iii) your access or use of the Site; (iv) access or use of the Site under any password that may be issued to you; (v) your transmissions, submissions or postings (i.e., your own User Generated Content); and/or (vi) any personal injury or property damage caused by you.
Amendments of this Agreement
Blue Ridge IP reserves the right to update, amend and/or change this Agreement at any time in its sole discretion and without notice. Updates to this Agreement will be posted here. Amendments will take effect immediately upon Blue Ridge IP posting the updated Agreement on the Site. You are encouraged to revisit this Agreement from time to time in order to review any changes that have been made. The date on which this Agreement was last updated will be noted immediately above this Agreement. Your continued access and use of the Site following the posting of any such changes shall automatically be deemed your acceptance of all changes.
Blue Ridge IP’s Remedies
You acknowledge that Blue Ridge IP may be irreparably damaged if this Agreement is not specifically enforced, and damages at law would be an inadequate remedy. Therefore, in the event of a breach or threatened breach of any provision of this Agreement by you, Blue Ridge IP shall be entitled, in addition to all rights and remedies, to an injunction restraining such breach or threatened breach, without being required to show any actual damage or to post an injunction bond, and/or to a decree for specific performance of the provisions of this Agreement. For purposes of this Section, you agree that any action or proceeding with regard to such injunction restraining such breach or threatened breach shall be brought in the courts of record of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. You consent to the jurisdiction of such court and waive any objection to the laying of venue of any such action or proceeding in such court. You agree that service of any court paper may be effected on such party by mail or in such other manner as may be provided under applicable laws, rules of procedure or local rules.
Governing Law; Arbitration
You agree that: (i) the Site shall be deemed solely based in the State of North Carolina; and (ii) the Site shall be deemed a passive Web site that does not give rise to personal jurisdiction over Blue Ridge IP, its affiliates and assigns, either specific or general, in jurisdictions other than the State of North Carlolina.
This Agreement is to be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of North Carolina, without regard for principles of conflicts of laws. Any civil action, claim, dispute or proceeding arising out of or relating to this Agreement, except for an injunctive action regarding a breach or threatened breach of any provision of this Agreement by you as provided above, shall be referred to final and binding arbitration, before a single arbitrator, under the commercial arbitration rules of the American Arbitration Association.
THEREFORE, YOU DO NOT HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO COURT TO ASSERT OR DEFEND YOUR RIGHTS AND YOU GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN OR BRING CLASS ACTIONS. By using The Site you consent to these restrictions.
You and Blue Ridge IP shall select the arbitrator, and if you and Blue Ridge IP are unable to reach agreement on selection of the arbitrator within thirty (30) days after the notice of arbitration is served, then the American Arbitration Association shall select the arbitrator. Arbitration shall not commence until the party requesting it has deposited One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) with the arbitrator for the arbitrator’s fees and costs. The party requesting arbitration shall advance such sums as are required from time to time by the arbitrator to pay the arbitrator’s fees and costs until the prevailing party is determined or the parties have agreed in writing to an alternate allocation of fees and costs.
Judgment upon any award rendered by the arbitrator shall be final, binding and conclusive upon you and Blue Ridge IP and your and Blue Ridge IP’s respective administrators, executors, legal representatives, successors and assigns, and may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction. Notwithstanding the previous sentence, in no event shall either you or Blue Ridge IP be entitled to punitive, special, indirect or consequential damages and both you and Blue Ridge IP hereby waive your and Blue Ridge IP’s respective rights to any punitive, special, indirect or consequential damages, including, but not limited to, damages for any loss of profit, revenue or business.
Should a dispute arise and should the arbitration provisions herein become inapplicable or unenforceable, or in any instance of any lawsuit between you and Blue Ridge IP, jurisdiction over and venue of any suit shall be exclusively in the state and federal courts sitting in Palm Beach County, North Carolina.
Miscellaneous
If any portion of this Agreement is deemed unlawful, void or unenforceable by any arbitrator or court of competent jurisdiction, this Agreement as a whole shall not be deemed unlawful, void or unenforceable, but only that portion of this Agreement that is unlawful, void or unenforceable shall be stricken from this Agreement.
The headings contained in this Agreement are for convenience of reference only, are not to be considered a part of this Agreement, and shall not limit or otherwise affect in any way the meaning or interpretation of this Agreement.
All covenants, agreements, representations and warranties made in this Agreement, as may be amended by Blue Ridge IP from time to time, shall survive your acceptance of this Agreement and the termination of this Agreement.
This Agreement and the Privacy Policy represent the entire understanding and agreement between you and Blue Ridge IP regarding the subject matter of the same, and supersede all other previous agreements, understandings and/or representations regarding the same.
If you have questions, comments, concerns or feedback regarding this Agreement or the Site, please contact Blue Ridge IP via any of the methods set forth below:
Via mail: Blue Ridge IP, LLC 2440 Sugar Mill Rd. Charlotte, NC 28210
Via email: info@blueridgeip.com