Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a legally binding agreement between you ("you," "your," or "user") and businessentitysearches.org/ ("we," "us," "our," or "the Site") governing your access to and use of businessentitysearches.org/ and any associated content, features, and services (collectively, the "Service").

By accessing or using the Service, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms, our Privacy Policy, our Disclaimer, our Cookie Policy, our DMCA Policy, and our Editorial Policy, all of which are incorporated by reference. If you do not agree to any part of these Terms, you must not use the Service.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least thirteen years old to use the Service. If you are between thirteen and the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction, you represent that you have your parent’s or legal guardian’s permission to use the Service. The Service is not directed at children under thirteen.

By using the Service, you represent and warrant that you have the legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement under the laws of your jurisdiction, and that your use of the Service does not violate any applicable law.

3. Description of the Service

businessentitysearches.org/ is an independent informational website that provides educational content about US business entity records, Secretary of State searches, federal registries (SEC EDGAR, USPTO, IRS, SAM.gov, PACER), corporate filings, and related public records. The Service is provided free of charge.

The Service does not include:

• Performance of business filings, registrations, or compliance services
• Registered agent services
• Legal, tax, accounting, or other professional advice
• Investigation services or licensed information broker services
• Any guarantee that information you find through the Service is current, complete, or accurate at the time you rely on it

For a full description of what the Service does and does not include, see our Disclaimer.

4. License to Use the Site

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to access and use the Service for your personal, non-commercial informational use, or for internal business research within your own organization.

This license does not give you any right to:

• Republish, redistribute, syndicate, or commercially exploit the content of the Service
• Frame, embed, or otherwise present the Service or substantial portions of it as part of another product or service
• Use the Service or its content for any service that competes with the Service
• Modify, translate, adapt, or create derivative works of the content without our written permission
• Remove, obscure, or alter any copyright, trademark, or other proprietary notice on the Service

5. Acceptable Use

You agree to use the Service only for lawful purposes and in a manner consistent with these Terms. Acceptable uses include:

• Reading and learning from the educational content published on the Service
• Following links to official government registries to perform your own searches
• Citing the Service in academic, journalistic, or professional work with appropriate attribution and a link back
• Sharing individual page links on social media or in email correspondence
• Submitting corrections, feedback, or DMCA notices through the channels described on the Service

6. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to use the Service in any of the following ways:

• To violate any applicable federal, state, local, or international law or regulation
• To infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other intellectual property right
• To stalk, harass, abuse, defame, or threaten any person or business
• To gather information about the registered agents, officers, or principals of any business with the intent to commit fraud, identity theft, or harassment
• To impersonate any person or entity, including any of our employees or representatives
• To use any automated means (robots, scrapers, spiders) to access, copy, or index the Service except as permitted by our robots.txt file
• To attempt to interfere with, compromise, or disrupt the Service or its servers
• To attempt to bypass any security or access control mechanism on the Service
• To use the Service to transmit any virus, malware, or other malicious code
• To collect or harvest personal information from the Service for unsolicited communications
• To reverse engineer or attempt to discover the source code of the Service
• To engage in any activity that, in our reasonable judgment, places undue load on our infrastructure

7. Content Ownership and Use

All content published on the Service — including the original explanatory text, the structure of guides, the visual design, the source-code of the layout, and the trademark "businessentitysearches.org/" — is owned by us or licensed to us. The content is protected by US and international copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws.

The Service summarizes, references, and links to publicly available information published by US government agencies. Government-published primary source material remains in the public domain or under the originating agency’s terms of use. Where third-party trademarks, agency names, or government logos appear, they are the property of their respective owners and are referenced for identification purposes only.

You may quote a reasonable portion of content from the Service for academic, journalistic, or research purposes consistent with US copyright fair use, with appropriate attribution and a link back. For any other use, please contact us in advance.

8. User Submissions

The Service does not host comment sections, forums, accounts, or user-generated public content. The only user submissions we accept are private email correspondence — typically corrections, feedback, DMCA notices, or research questions sent to our published email addresses.

By submitting any correspondence to us, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use the substance of your submission for the purpose of operating, improving, and updating the Service. This includes the right to incorporate corrections you suggest into our editorial content. We will not publish your name, email address, or other identifying details from a submission unless you give us specific written permission.

You represent that any submission you send is original to you or that you have the right to share it with us, and does not violate any third party’s rights.

9. Third-Party Sites and Services

The Service contains links to third-party websites operated by government agencies, non-profit organizations, and commercial providers. We do not control these third-party sites, and we are not responsible for their content, accuracy, availability, or privacy practices. The inclusion of a link does not imply endorsement.

The Service also uses third-party services for hosting, content delivery, analytics, and advertising. Each third-party service operates under its own terms and privacy practices, which apply to your interaction with that service. See our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy for details.

10. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION:

• Implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement
• Warranties that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free
• Warranties regarding the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of any content on the Service
• Warranties that defects in the Service will be corrected
• Warranties that the Service or the servers that make it available are free of viruses or other harmful components

For a full discussion of the limits of the information published on the Service, see our Disclaimer.

11. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL WE, OUR AFFILIATES, OUR LICENSORS, OUR SERVICE PROVIDERS, OR ANY OF OUR EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OFFICERS, OR DIRECTORS BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE, THE SERVICE, INCLUDING:

• Direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages
• Loss of profits, revenue, business opportunity, or commercial relationships
• Loss of data or interruption of service
• Damages arising from reliance on information that turned out to be inaccurate, outdated, or incomplete
• Damages arising from third-party content, products, or services accessed through the Service

This limitation applies whether based on contract, tort (including negligence), product liability, or any other legal theory, and whether or not we have been informed of the possibility of such damages. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so some of the above limitations may not apply to you.

12. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless businessentitysearches.org/ and its operators, employees, contractors, agents, licensors, and successors from any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses, or fees (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to:

• Your violation of these Terms
• Your use or misuse of the Service
• Your violation of any rights of another, including intellectual property rights and privacy rights
• Your violation of any applicable law or regulation
• Any decision, action, or omission you take in reliance on information found through the Service

13. Termination

We reserve the right, in our sole discretion and without notice, to suspend or terminate your access to the Service or any portion of it at any time, for any reason, including violation of these Terms, suspected illegal activity, or conduct that we believe is harmful to the Service, other users, or third parties.

The provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination — including without limitation the disclaimer of warranties, limitation of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution provisions — will survive termination.

14. Governing Law

These Terms and your use of the Service are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United States and the state in which the Site operator is established, without regard to its conflict of law principles. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

Use of the Service is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of these Terms.

15. Dispute Resolution

15.1 Informal Resolution

Before filing any formal legal action, you agree to attempt to resolve the dispute informally by contacting us at info@businessentitysearches.org with the subject line “Legal Notice” and a clear description of the dispute. We will attempt to respond within thirty days.

15.2 Binding Arbitration (Where Applicable)

Where permitted by law, you and we agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service that cannot be resolved informally will be resolved through binding individual arbitration rather than in court, except that you may bring qualifying claims in small-claims court. Class actions, class arbitrations, and consolidated proceedings are not permitted.

Arbitration will be administered by a recognized arbitration provider (such as the American Arbitration Association) under its applicable consumer rules. The seat of arbitration will be the state in which the Site operator is established. Each party will bear its own costs, except as provided by the applicable arbitration rules.

15.3 Exceptions

This dispute resolution provision does not preclude either party from seeking emergency injunctive relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to protect its intellectual property or to prevent ongoing unauthorized access to the Service.

16. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, post a more prominent notice on the Service. Continued use of the Service after a change indicates acceptance of the revised Terms.

17. General Provisions

• Entire Agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Disclaimer, DMCA Policy, and Editorial Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the Service.
• Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid or unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law, and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.
• No Waiver. Our failure to enforce any right or provision of these Terms is not a waiver of that right or provision.
• Assignment. You may not assign or transfer these Terms or any rights under them without our prior written consent. We may assign these Terms freely.
• No Agency. Nothing in these Terms creates any agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment relationship between you and us.
• Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.
• Force Majeure. We will not be liable for any failure to perform due to causes beyond our reasonable control.