Terms of use

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Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand

Terms of use

These are the terms of use for engaging with the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand website, social media channels and online channels.

These terms of use apply to all online channels of the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (‘IPONZ’, ‘we’ or ‘us’), to any web feeds produced by our website, and to any feedback or submissions provided through our website including:

  • Our website iponz.govt.nz
  • Our intellectual property (IP) registers for trade marks, patents, designs, plant variety rights, and geographical indications
  • Our online tools and services
  • Our social media profiles

We are operated by IPONZ, which is a business unit of Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). 

By using our online channels, you will be deemed to have agreed to these terms of use.  We reserve the right to change these terms of use at any time. Your continued use of our online channels following the posting of changes will mean that you accept and agree to the changes.

Disclaimer

The information provided on our online channels is intended to be used as a general guide and does not represent legal advice. While we endeavour to ensure that our content is accurate and relevant to as many users as possible, we recommend that you seek advice from a lawyer, registered patent attorney, or other relevant qualified individual before taking any steps in relation to your own or someone else’s intellectual property. All readers who ignore this disclaimer do so at their own risk.

Third-party websites 

Links to third-party websites should not be taken as an endorsement or recommendation of those sites or products offered on those sites. When visiting other websites, please refer to the terms and policies of those sites. We don't endorse advertising, related material, or other content you may view on such sites while accessing our content.

We do not accept any liability for the accuracy or content of information on this website that belongs to third parties; nor for the accuracy or content of any third-party links on our online channels.

The case studies and examples stated on our online channels are not in any way an endorsement of the products.

Granting intellectual property rights, is in no way an endorsement of the product or service. Please refer to the terms of the respective product or service to make an informed decision.

Continuity of service 

We make no warranty or representation, express or implied, as to continuity of service. We reserve the right to suspend, terminate or otherwise alter access to some or all services provided by our online channels  at any time and without notice.

Privacy

In general, we will not share personal information that is provided or collected through our online channels, unless it is necessary to do so for the purpose for which you gave us the information (e.g. to register intellectual property). 

We may use personal information provided to us for other reasons permitted under the Privacy Act 2020 (e.g. with your consent, or for a directly related purpose, or where the law permits or requires it).

For details see our privacy statement.

Social media

These terms of use tell you what to expect from us, and what we expect from you, when using our social media channels . Before you engage with us through social media channels, we encourage you to read each channel's terms of use.

By accessing our social media pages you are considered to have consented to the conditions of use of the particular social media service and our individual channel. These terms of use may be updated any time without notice.

We use social media to share information on IP and our services. Our followers can expect to receive updates covering:

  • Information about our products, services and activities
  • Best practices and case studies
  • Latest updates, including news, publications, presentations, media releases and campaigns
  • Invitations to provide feedback on our campaigns and initiatives
  • Other updates, articles or publications of interest which are relevant to our key messages, objectives and promotions.

We may follow or like organisations and individuals that are relevant to our organisation. This does not imply endorsement or guarantee the accuracy of their information.

Posts made by other parties to our social media channels are the responsibility of that person or organisation. These don't necessarily reflect our opinions or policies.

Engagement

We do not provide customer service through our social media channels. If you have a case specific query please contact us in another way.

We welcome feedback and ideas from our followers and will try to join these conversations where possible. However, we can't guarantee that we will be able to reply individually to every post. If you have an urgent query, please contact us directly.

We may choose to mention, or post information by other organisations and/or individuals for the interest and information of our followers. In these cases, we do not necessarily endorse or guarantee the accuracy of this information.

At times people employed by us may engage in forums on LinkedIn and other online channels. In these cases, opinions or views expressed on these forums belong to the individual staff member and may not necessarily be attributed to us. Any of our staff members who are acting in an official capacity will identify themselves along with their position within the organisation, and state that they are representing IPONZ.

Monitoring

We reserve the right to report or remove any posts or comments that do not comply with the:

In addition, we reserve the right to remove content posted on our pages that:

  • Is not relevant to the current discussion;
  • Is deemed to be offensive;
  • Breaches privacy restrictions; and/or

We may, at our discretion, report, block or ban anyone as appropriate who posts the above content, or who breaches these terms of use, or the terms of use of a social media channel.

Crown copyright

Unless otherwise indicated, the material we make available on our social media accounts is protected by New Zealand Crown copyright. You can reproduce this Crown copyright material free of charge without further permission, as long as you:

  • Reproduce the material accurately;
  • Don't use the material in a derogatory manner or a misleading context;
  • Do not sell or distribute any material on a commercial basis; and
  • Acknowledge the source and copyright status of the material.

Copyright of third parties

Our social media accounts may provide links to other websites or embed material which may contain information that is the copyright of third parties and subject to restrictions on use or reproduction.

You must get permission from the copyright owner to use material that is protected by the copyright of a third party. We are not able to give you this permission on behalf of the copyright owner.

Licence

By submitting, posting or displaying your content on any of our social media accounts, you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use that content.

Disclaimer

The contents of our social media channels are intended for informational purposes only. We will not accept any liability for loss or damage suffered by any person or body due to information provided on our social media channels or any linked websites.

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