1. Overview
These terms (“Industry License Terms”), together with our Terms of Service, are intended to govern your use of the digital illustrations, images (whether in two dimensional or three dimensional form), figures, templates, icons, drawings and any other pictorials, graphics or accompanying information provided to you by BioRender or its licensors (the “BioRender Content”). Our Services provide you with a robust platform to use and employ BioRender Content, combined with content you import, develop on your own or license from a third-party (“User Content”), to create final illustrations, images, figures, drawings and graphics (“Completed Graphics”).
These terms Industry License Terms only apply to BioRender Content used by Customers (or their Permitted Users) who register for a Paid BioRender Plan under the “Industry” category at https://biorender.com/pricing/ or pursuant to an Order Confirmation (an “Industry BioRender Plan”). Customers who register for a free-trial, will be granted a license under our more restrictive Basic License Terms until they acquire an Industry BioRender Plan.
You will be issued a content license under these Industry License Terms (an “Industry License”) for each item of BioRender Content contained in Completed Graphics you are permitted to download, including by screen capture or other permitted means, from our Service (referred to herein as an “Export” or “Exports”). Following your Export of Completed Graphics, we shall grant you the right to use BioRender Content in your Completed Graphics in the manner set out herein (the “Permitted Uses”) subject to the restrictions set out below. While we can change the Permitted Uses in accordance with our Terms of Service, this will not affect how you can use Completed Graphics that you Exported prior to that time.
Please ensure you Export Completed Graphics while using the Industry BioRender Plan if you require an Industry License to apply to your BioRender Content. Provided you have a valid Industry BioRender Plan and you comply with these Industry License Terms, we won’t charge you a separate license fee each time you Export a Completed Graphic.
Please read these Industry License Terms carefully before using our Services or any BioRender Content. Your failure to comply with the terms herein could result in legal proceedings and the immediate termination of your User-Account. Initial capitalized terms not defined herein shall have the meaning given to them in our Terms of Service.
Overview of our Industry License Terms.
These Industry License Terms apply when you subscribe to one of our paid Industry plans and use our icons and templates (referred to as "BioRender Content") in the figures you create in BioRender. Any images you develop on your own or visuals you import from other sources into BioRender are considered your "User Content." The final figure you create, combining your User Content with our BioRender Content, is called a "Completed Graphic." These terms also explain the ownership of BioRender Content, User Content and Completed Graphics. Detailed ownership is described below, and can be summarized as follows: BioRender owns and retains copyright to all BioRender Content, while you own (or have the right to use) your User Content and the final figures you assemble.
When you transfer (export) a figure which contains any of our BioRender icons and templates out of BioRender, we give you permission to use BioRender Content in your figure as long as you follow the Permitted Uses and Prohibited Uses that are listed below and you have a current, valid subscription to an Academic License plan at the time you export.
If you don’t follow these terms, we may need to shut down your BioRender account, or in rare circumstances and as a last resort, take required legal action. We will always notify you first if we think you’re not following the terms.
2. Industry License Terms
Subject to these Industry License Terms, BioRender hereby grants to you a worldwide, non-assignable, non-transferable, non-exclusive, and perpetual license (solely for the purposes contemplated herein) to create, copy, reproduce, use, process, store and transmit and sub-license (subject to Section 5 below) BioRender Content. All rights in and to BioRender Content, including, without limitation, all copyright and other Intellectual Property Rights (except as described in Section 6 below) relating to BioRender Content, are retained by BioRender or its licensors as the case may be. BioRender disclaims any Losses you incur as a consequence of your use or application of any BioRender Content in your Completed Graphics. We provide you with BioRender Content on an “as is” basis and make no representations or warranties that it is fit for use or any purpose.
Completed Graphics included in any published or printed material, including websites and social media, containing BioRender Content as permitted hereunder must include a citation to BioRender adjacent to or following the Completed Graphics as a caption or in audio/visual production credits or footnotes - the citation to use will be specified in the Publication License you must generate in the BioRender Services prior to publishing the Completed Graphic. (Please see our Help Center for more information regarding publishing.)
The license rights you get from BioRender.
The license you receive in these Industry License Terms allows you to use our BioRender Content in your figure anywhere in the world and won’t expire when you publish it in an article, textbook, presentation, etc. You just need to make sure that you follow the Permitted Uses, Prohibited Uses and publication/citation requirements that are described in these Industry License terms.
Why cite BioRender?
When you use a figure containing BioRender’s icons and/or templates in a publication or printed material, we require you to cite BioRender for that figure. This is because we need to make it clear that any BioRender icons and/or templates used in a published figure are used by you with appropriate permission from BioRender. Otherwise, any reader of the publication may think that you or someone else owns the BioRender Content that’s in your figure. Please see our explanation on figure ownership below.
Generate a Publication License.
When you are ready to publish your figure in a publication (journal, textbook, thesis, etc), you’ll need to generate a Publication License in BioRender through a simple 1-2 step process. This will generate a citation with an author attribution to you, a URL to a unique webpage and citation requirements for the figure. The unique webpage will include a high resolution version of your figure, a summary of your publication license for the figure and details about what readers can do with your figure with and without your permission. There will also be optional button to contact you to request permission to view or copy your figure. Keep in mind, BioRender still owns the BioRender Content used in the figure, but as the author of the final figure, you can publish that figure any way you like as long as you get a Publication License and include the citation for the figure. Please see our Help Center on the steps for publishing a figure.
Can I publish my figure in Open Access journals?
Yes! With a paid Industry License, you can publish a figure in an Open Access journal, including under CC-BY 4.0 licensing without having to contact the BioRender team. Just generate the Publication License (details above) for the figure and use the included citation in the figure caption, footnote, or credits when publishing your figure.
3. Permitted Uses
Permitted Educational and Personal Uses:
Subject to the restrictions described under Prohibited Uses below, the following are “Permitted Uses” of Completed Graphics containing BioRender Content licensed to you under these Industry License Terms:
Permitted Publishing Uses:
Permitted Commercial Uses:
Other Uses:
provided that in the case of each Permitted Use above further limitations may apply that appear in an Order Confirmation, on our Website and which are brought to your attention during your registration under a BioRender Plan or creation of a User-Account, including for example the number of instances Completed Graphics may be used in any single Permitted Use and how a Completed Graphic may be used after termination of this Content License Agreement.
Types of Uses that are allowed.
Our Industry License allows for educational, publishing and commercial uses of figures with BioRender Content. As listed to the left here, you can use them in posters, an unpublished thesis, presentations for meetings, assignments, exams, teaching slides, blogs and social media posts.
Our Industry License also allows you to publish your figures in journals, textbooks, and in theses. Remember to get a Publication License for your final figure and use the included citation when you publish it. For textbooks or similar works, there may be limits to the number of times your figure can appear in a publication based on the type of plan you have. Please see our Help Center for more information on figure publication limits.
Our Industry License further allows you to use your figures for commercial purposes or to profit from, as listed to the left here.
You are also allowed to have online copies of your figure containing our BioRender Content to collaborate with other BioRender users.
4. Prohibited Uses
You may not do anything with the BioRender Content or any Completed Graphics containing BioRender Content that is not expressly permitted in the preceding section.
For greater clarity, the following are Prohibited Uses (“Prohibited Uses”) under these Industry License Terms and each other Content License Terms:
Types of Uses that are not allowed.
It takes a lot of time, effort and resources for our team to create our library of scientifically accurate, ready-to-use BioRender icons and templates. It takes an equal investment to make it easier and easier for you to use our BioRender Content in the figures you create to tell your scientific stories. To continue being able to invest in growing our library and improving the product, we need to make sure we are protecting our business and maintaining the rights to our BioRender Content.
Therefore, with an Industry License, we do not allow you to use BioRender Content in a way that could compete with us, give away BioRender Content for free with no conditions, undermine our rights to BioRender Content, or use BioRender Content in any way that could be harmful to someone. Please see the list of Prohibited Uses to the left for what we do not allow.
5. Sublicenses
The licenses granted to you under these Industry License Terms may be sublicensed to third parties, solely on and in connection with a Permitted Use.
By entering into a sublicense, you hereby agree that:
Notwithstanding any of the Prohibited Uses set out herein, you may grant a sublicense to share and adapt Completed Graphics through an open-source licensing arrangement provided that any such adaptations do not violate BioRender’s Copyrights and do not allow for any Prohibited Uses under this Content License Agreement. Under no circumstances will any permitted or non-permitted uses of BioRender Content alter BioRender’s title, rights and ownership of the BioRender Content, no matter what agreement you may enter into with another third party with respect to the BioRender Content.
Letting others use your figures.
You can give others permission to use the figures you create with BioRender, as long as both you and those you share with follow the rules we've outlined here. However, you're responsible for what they do with the figures, and they can't share them with anyone else without BioRender's permission.
If you are publishing your figure in an Open Access journal that is under an open-source licensing arrangement (e.g. CC-BY 4.0 license), please make sure you follow our Publication License and citation requirements noted in Section 2 above and our Help Center page.
6. Ownership of Intellectual Property In Derivative Works
You may make modifications, improvements, customizations, updates, enhancements, aggregations, compilations, derivative works, translations and adaptations (“Modifications”) to BioRender Content. You agree that BioRender shall be deemed to own the Copyrights in any Modifications of BioRender Content appearing in Completed Graphics prepared by you, and any such BioRender Content created by you is a “work made for hire” for BioRender under the U.S. Copyright Act and any and all similar provisions of law under other jurisdictions, and that BioRender shall be deemed to be the author of such works for all purposes. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you hereby waive and release in favor of BioRender and its licensors all rights (if any) of “droit moral,” moral rights, rental rights and similar rights in and to such BioRender Content. To the extent that any portion of Modifications to BioRender Content do not qualify as a “work made for hire” under applicable law, or the extent that notwithstanding any of the foregoing, ownership of any portion of such BioRender Content does not vest in BioRender, you hereby irrevocably assign to BioRender and its successors and assigns, without further consideration, your Copyrights in Modifications to BioRender Content.
Except as provided above, BioRender does not otherwise own the Intellectual Property Rights in Modifications to BioRender Content you rightfully acquire under Applicable Law which, for greater certainty, shall not include minor Modifications that involve minimal skill or creativity. For example, you are unlikely to be granted any Intellectual Property Rights for your Modifications to BioRender Content which simply skews, applies color changes or re-shapes BioRender Content.
Who owns the figures you create in BioRender?
1) We DO NOT own the figures you create in BioRender.
You own:
BioRender owns:
In other words, the story or message you create in BioRender is yours, including scientific concepts you’re sharing that you would own rights to – you own all that! We just need to make sure we retain ownership of BioRender icons and templates so we can continue to operate BioRender as a company.
Think of it like using a font (like Arial) in a written story, or manuscript you create in Microsoft Word. You don’t own the font, but you have permission from the font owner to use it in creating your story or manuscript, which you do own. Similarly, our icons and templates are like the font—you can arrange, reshape, and recolor them to help tell your scientific story in your figures. We own the icons and templates, but you own the final figure you create using them. Think of it as a visual manuscript.
2) Modifications.
Our icons and templates (BioRender Content) are meant to be plug-and-play for you to use immediately in your figures. If you make changes to our icons and templates by skewing, resizing, reshaping and recoloring them, you are making “Modifications” to them. Under copyright laws, we need to own those Modifications - if we did not claim ownership of the Modifications, then anyone could simply recolor one of our protein icons and then claim ownership of the icon - we would be out of business! However, if you’ve made significant Modifications to the BioRender Content that it becomes a wholly new work itself that is visibly different from BioRender's current icons and visual style, you would be the owner of that new work.
7. Termination
Upon termination of your Industry BioRender Plan, if you are not in breach of your Agreement with BioRender:
Termination of Content Licenses:
You can terminate the licenses granted to you under these Industry License Terms by destroying the BioRender Content and Completed Graphics, along with any copies or archives of it or accompanying materials (if applicable), and ceasing to use the Completed Graphic for any purpose.
If you are in breach of our Agreement, your BioRender Plan and the licenses granted to you hereunder shall also terminate. Upon such termination, BioRender may require you to immediately (i) destroy or delete all copies and archives of the Completed Graphic or accompanying materials and (ii) if requested, confirm to BioRender in writing that you have complied with these requirements. We reserve the right to revoke or amend the license granted hereunder and replace the BioRender Content with an alternative for any reason.
Upon notice from BioRender, or upon your knowledge that any BioRender Content is subject to a threatened, potential or actual claim of infringement of another’s right for which BioRender may be liable, you must immediately and at your own expense (i) stop using the BioRender Content; (ii) delete or remove the BioRender Content from your premises, computer systems and storage (electronic or physical); (iii) ensure that your clients, printers or ISPs do likewise; and (iv) let BioRender know.
What happens if your subscription ends?
Our restrictions on using a figure with BioRender Content after your BioRender Plan is terminated are listed to the left here.
You can keep using BioRender on a free plan, but with limited features, and any new figures you create will be under our Basic License Terms.
You can still use any figures you exported while your paid plan was active, as long as you follow the Industry License Terms for those figures. As we stated above, the license you get when you export something never expires.
You can end this Industry License by deleting all copies of your figures that include BioRender Content and immediately stopping their use.
If you violate any of these Industry License Terms, your BioRender Plan may be canceled, and we may require you to delete or destroy any figures you've created.
If we ask you to stop using any of our BioRender Content, please do so immediately.
We hope the explanations above help clarify our terms. If you still have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at support@biorender.com.
Thank you for supporting our mission to help the scientific community share their ideas and discoveries for the advancement of science.