Terms of Use

Guides > Terms of Use
Use of the USPTO Website. Also see Editorial Standards

Maintain Separation

When hyperlinking to the USPTO website, you must do so in a manner that does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by the USPTO for your enterprise or website. See the Editorial Standards for citation guidance.

Use of USPTO Seal

The USPTO does not authorize the use of either its seal or logo on any other websites.

Please contact the Director of the Office of Public Affairs at 703.305.8341 for specific guidance or questions regarding the publication or use of the official USPTO seal or logo.

Copyrights

Copyrights are administered by the Copyright Office, a division of the Library of Congress. Copyright law (17 U.S.C. § 105) states that all materials created by the United States government are in the public domain. However, there are restrictions on use.

Anyone incorporating a work of the U.S. Government into a copyrighted work should be aware of 17 U.S.C. § 403. This section requires a copyright notice to contain a statement identifying what portions of the work consist of a work of the U.S.Government. Failure to do so could result in loss of copyright protection for the entire work.

WARNING: Not all materials on our website were created by the U.S. Government. Some have been published by permission of the creators, and that permission is not generally transferrable. Please contact us regarding copyright status before publishing or reselling any documents having outside authorship or any images contained on the webpages for this site.

See the Editorial Standards for more specific copyright information.

Use of USPTO Databases

The USPTO databases are intended for use by the general public. Due to limitations of equipment and bandwidth, they are not intended to be a source for bulk downloads of USPTO data. Bulk data may be purchased from USPTO at cost (see the USPTO Products and Services Catalog). Individuals, companies, IP addresses, or blocks of IP addresses who, in effect, deny service to the general public by generating unusually high numbers of daily database accesses (searches, pages, or hits), whether generated manually or in an automated fashion, may be denied access to these servers without notice.

Is there a question about what the USPTO can or cannot do that you cannot find an answer for? Send questions about USPTO programs and services to the USPTO Contact Center (UCC). You can suggest USPTO webpages or material you would like featured on this section by E-mail to the webmaster@uspto.gov. While we cannot promise to accommodate all requests, your suggestions will be considered and may lead to other improvements on the website.