Intellectual Property (IP) Rights

This Trepup Intellectual Property Rights policy outlines the measures to protect your intellectual property, ensure you are not infringing on others' intellectual property rights, and describes our process for handling instances or allegations of intellectual property infringement. This policy is integral to our commitment to fostering an environment of respect and legal integrity. It should be read in conjunction with the Terms of Service and the Policies. For the purpose of this policy, any capitalized terms not explicitly defined herein shall be understood as they are defined within the Terms of Service. Our approach to intellectual property, rooted in mutual respect and the rule of law, seeks to build a community that honors the creative rights of all individuals, promoting a culture of innovation and respect.

For the purposes of this policy, intellectual property will include all trademarks, service marks, trade names, trade dress, logos, copyrights, rights of authorship, inventions, mask work rights, moral rights, patents, rights of inventorship, all applications, registrations and renewals in connection with any of the above, database rights, know-how, trade secrets, formulas, pattern, method, technique, rights of publicity, privacy and/or defamation, designs and all other intellectual and industrial property rights related thereto anywhere in the world, in each case whether or not they are registered and including pending applications for such rights and rights to file applications for such registrations.

All references in this policy to the singular shall include the plural (and vice versa) where applicable, and any gender form shall include all others.

It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with this policy and contact us if you have any questions or require any clarifications. This policy is not meant to provide any legal advice in relation to your or someone else's intellectual property. If you have any issues regarding intellectual property, you should consult a qualified lawyer.

Copyrights

A copyright consists of original works such as original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, cinematograph films and sound recordings. Original works of authorship can include photos, videos, books, songs, video games, paintings, software products and source code. To receive copyright protection, a work of authorship must usually have some amount of original content or creativity. If you are the author of an original work, then you typically own the copyright in that work. Copyright protection usually arises at the moment of creation of a work. Some jurisdictions permit the author of an original work to register their copyright.

Copyright laws across jurisdictions prohibit the unauthorized copying or use of original works. If you post, display, or use any third-party copyright protected material in a manner that you are not permitted or licensed to, or does not constitute fair use, your post may result in copyright infringement. Do not post, upload, or share photos or videos from the Internet without checking if sharing them is permissible under their relevant licensing terms.

The author of an original work typically owns the copyright in that work. For example, if you took a video of your product, or commissioned someone else to take a video on your behalf for your product listing for valuable consideration, you may be considered to be the owner or licensee of copyright in that video. Accordingly, you can use that video in your product listing on Trepup to provide additional details about your product to other users. In case you are using a video owned by a third party, you should take that person's permission prior to using that video in your product listing.

Trademarks

A trademark is a mark that is capable of distinguishing products of one person from those of others and may include the shape of the products, their packaging and combination of colors. It usually comprises a word, image, symbol, or logo. A trademark owner usually protects a trademark by registering it with a country-specific trademark office. However, unregistered trademarks can also have protection. Trademark protection is usually territorial by nature, i.e., the geographic scope of protection for trademarks is limited and depends on the place of registration. Trademark law aims to enable owners to distinguish their products from those of others. Additionally, it acts as an indicator of the source of the product, and, over time, an indicator of quality.

Generally, a user can use someone else's trademark when

• selling original and genuine products, a user may use the corresponding trademarked name to list those products.
• using a trademarked word in its ordinary dictionary meaning.
• making truthful statements that a product is compatible with a trademarked product. For example, if a user offers and states that a phone cover is compatible with a certain trademarked electronic product, then it will not constitute trademark infringement as long as the statement is true and not confusing.

You should make certain that the user content uploaded by you on Trepup does not infringe trademarks of any third party. When you decide to offer any products or services on Trepup, you should ensure the following:

• Offer products that are genuine and original
• Not offer for sale any counterfeit products
• Make sure that the description of the products is accurate and such description is not, and is likely to not create any confusion regarding, among other things, the origin, source, nature, manufacturer, endorsement, affiliation or association of the products or services
• Not use any trademarks to take unfair advantage of any established brand to the detriment of the trademark or against the reputation of the trademark
• Not publish product descriptions that may be misleading or misrepresentative of any listed products or services
• Not advertise and market products or services using trademarks or marks that are deceptively similar to other trademarks or marks without the right holder's permission.

Patents

A patent is a statutory right for an invention granted for a limited period of time to the patentee by a government, in exchange of full disclosure of his invention for excluding others, from making, using, selling, importing the patented product or process for producing that product for those purposes without his consent. Patent protection is usually territorial in nature and is effective in the territory where the patent is registered.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not offer for sale or sell any patented product on Trepup for which you do not own the patent or that is not covered by a valid license from the patent owner. Listing, offering to sell or selling of products with patent piracy is prohibited on the website.

Designs

A design grants protection to the features of shape, configuration, pattern, ornament or composition of lines or colors applied to any article by any industrial process or means. Designs are registered to make certain that the artisan, creator, or originator of a design having an aesthetic look does not deprive them of their bona fide reward by others applying it to their products without the consent of such artisan, creator, or originator.

You must make sure that you do not offer for sale or sell on Trepup any product with a registered design for which you do not own the design or that is not covered by a valid license from the design owner. Listing, offering to sell or selling of products with design piracy is prohibited on Trepup.

Trepup intellectual property

All intellectual property rights in Trepup, its source code, interface, listings, designs, Trepup's trademarks, logos, service marks, trade names, trade dress and any other intellectual property are owned by Trepup and are its valuable assets. As a general rule, you are not permitted to use any intellectual property owned by Trepup without the prior permission or authorization of Trepup.

Where applicable, by using, in whole or in part, any intellectual property that is owned by Trepup, you are acknowledging that Trepup is the sole owner of the intellectual property and that you will not interfere with Trepup's rights in the intellectual property, including challenging Trepup's use, registration of, or application to register such intellectual property. You will only use any intellectual property used by Trepup in accordance with the terms of the license or authorization granted by Trepup to you and shall not infringe any intellectual property rights of Trepup in any manner whatsoever.

You agree to not harm, misuse or bring into disrepute any intellectual property belonging to Trepup. The goodwill derived from using any intellectual property belonging to Trepup exclusively inures to the benefit of, and belongs to, Trepup. For further details, refer to the Brand Guidelines and the Brand Usage policy.

You agree and acknowledge that in using Trepup and/or user content you must not

• remove or alter trademark, logo, copyright or other proprietary notices or labels from Trepup or electronic communication sent through Trepup, if any.
• copy, frame, or mirror any part of the user content on Trepup other than in connection with your permitted use or internal purposes.
• create derivative works based on any specific design, structure, or other aspect of Trepup.
• reverse engineer, reverse assemble, decompile, or attempt to discover or extract the source code, object code or algorithms found on or through Trepup.
• sell, resell, rent, or lease access to Trepup.
• access Trepup to (1) build a competitive product, (2) copy any features, functions, or graphics, (3) monitor availability, performance, or functionality, or (4) conduct any benchmarking or pursue competitive interests.

Your obligations

You will not infringe the intellectual property rights of Trepup or any third party while accessing or using the website.

You must ensure that you have the authority and right to upload any user content, including descriptions, brand names, trademarks, designs, and videos before uploading or sharing such user content on Trepup. It is your responsibility to ensure that all such user content is accurate and does not mislead other users of the website.

In case you are not certain whether your user content violates any third-party intellectual property rights, we recommend that you discuss your rights with a qualified lawyer before listing, uploading, or sharing any such user content on Trepup.

Intellectual property infringement

All users are expected to access or use the website in compliance with applicable law as well as the Policies. Trepup takes claims of intellectual property infringement very seriously and will undertake all actions against you as it may deem necessary even if you were unknowingly infringing any intellectual property rights.

Trepup, may at its sole discretion, review the user content offered or posted by you on the website. If Trepup believes that the user content infringes on the intellectual property rights of any third parties or if Trepup receives a notice from any third party alleging that your user content is infringing their rights, then Trepup may do any or all of the following:

• Notify you on your Trepup Account email regarding the infringement
• Take down or delete the relevant user content from the website
• Suspend or terminate your Trepup Account or institute posting restrictions
• Notify the third party whose rights we believe you are infringing
• Assist such third parties with any legal proceedings that they may institute against you
• Notify other users, your customers, or vendors of such infringement
• Notify any governmental authority of such infringement.

If you have received a notification from Trepup that your Trepup Account has been suspended or terminated pursuant to an intellectual property infringement and you believe that your products or services are not infringing any intellectual property rights of any third parties, you may write to us with the following information:

• Details of the notification received from Trepup
• Details regarding the infringing user content, as may be applicable
• Documentation (such as invoices or procurement documents) proving the authenticity of your user content, as may be applicable
• An authorization letter, if applicable, from any third parties who own the intellectual property rights in question
• Information that may assist in establishing that the user content is not infringing any intellectual property rights of any third parties.

If your Trepup Account has been suspended due to a claim of infringement of intellectual property, we may reinstate your Trepup Account after 21 calendar days of suspension if (1) a final and binding court order has been issued in your favor by a court of competent jurisdiction in relation to the relevant user content, (2) no court order has been received by us asking us to restrict access to your user content within 21 calendar days of receiving a notice in this regard, or (3) subject to applicable law, you have been able to establish beyond reasonable doubt that your user content does not infringe intellectual property rights of third parties.

In addition, you will, before we reinstate your Trepup Account, submit an undertaking to Trepup specifying

• the steps you have taken to ensure that you are no longer infringing someone else's intellectual property.
• the steps you will take to avoid infringement in the future or make certain that such claims do not arise.
• any other pertinent information.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold Trepup, its shareholders, management, employees, agents, representatives, successors, and assigns harmless against any losses which arise out of, result from, or are connected with, any claims of infringement of any intellectual property rights of any third party by you while accessing or using the website.

If you believe any other user of Trepup, or any third-party user content offered or posted by a third party is infringing any intellectual property rights owned by you, you may send a written notice of such infringement to us. A false notice or counter-notice may give rise to personal liability. You may therefore want to seek the advice of legal counsel before submitting a notice or a counter-notice. Your notice must provide the following information:

• A description of the intellectual property right that you believe has been infringed
• A description of the relevant user content and its location on the website to enable us to accurately identify the infringing material
• Details of the manner in which the user content is infringing and that such use is not covered by fair use or any other available defense
• Details of the person, if known, who is responsible for uploading or sharing the infringing user content
• An undertaking that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the owner of the intellectual property at issue or are authorized to act on the intellectual property owner's behalf
• An undertaking that you will file an infringement suit in the competent court against the person responsible for uploading the infringing copy and produce the orders of a competent court having jurisdiction within a period of 21 calendar days from the receipt of a counter-notice
• Your name, address, phone number and email address.

We only investigate notices or claims of infringement of intellectual property rights if such notices are received from the owner of the intellectual property or from a duly authorized licensee. If you believe that the notice received from any third party alleging infringement of their intellectual property is baseless or erroneous, you may send a counter-notice containing the following information to us:

• Details of the notice received from the third party
• A pointwise reply to each of the claims of the third party
• Proof of ownership of your intellectual property
• Your name, address, phone number and email address, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the courts from where you have received the notice and a statement that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of the alleged infringement.

If a counter-notice is received by us, Trepup may send a copy of the counter-notice to the original complaining party. Unless the complainant files an action seeking a court order against the user to whom the notice was issued within 21 calendar days of receiving a counter-notice or provides a court order to Trepup within such a time period, the removed user content may be replaced or access to it restored.