Terms of use

1. Acceptance of Terms

By accessing or using Common Parts Access (accessible at access.commonparts.org), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. If you do not agree to these terms, you may not use the service.

These Terms of Use apply to all users of Common Parts Access, including visitors who browse without an account and registered users who publish content.

Common Parts reserves the right to update these Terms at any time. Continued use of Common Parts Access after any modification constitutes acceptance of the updated terms. Registered users will be notified of material changes by email.

2. Description of the Service

Common Parts Access is an open platform for publishing and accessing digital spare parts. It is an official interface of the Common Parts Infrastructure, operating as a structured registry where spare part files can be published, discovered, and downloaded.

Common Parts Access allows users to:

• Browse and download digital spare part files in standard formats, including STL, 3MF, and STEP
• Publish original or openly licensed spare part models with associated structured metadata
• Contribute metadata to improve the discoverability and usability of published parts

3. User Accounts

3.1 Registration

Creating an account requires a valid email address. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You must notify Common Parts immediately at contact@commonparts.org if you suspect unauthorised use of your account.

You may not create an account on behalf of another person without their explicit consent, or use a false identity for the purpose of misleading other users.

3.2 Account suspension and termination

Common Parts reserves the right to suspend or permanently delete any account that:

• Violates these Terms of Use
• Publishes content that infringes third-party rights
• Engages in abusive, fraudulent, or harmful conduct on the platform
• Has been inactive for more than 24 consecutive months, following prior notice by email

You may delete your account at any time through your account settings or by contacting contact@commonparts.org. Account deletion is subject to the data retention provisions described in the Privacy Policy.

4. Publishing Content

4.1 Eligibility to publish

To publish content on Common Parts Access, you must hold an account and comply with these Terms. By publishing a part, you represent and warrant that:

• You are the original author of the file, or you hold sufficient rights to publish it under an open licence
• The file does not reproduce proprietary designs protected by industrial property rights - including patents, registered design rights, or copyright - without authorisation from the rights holder
• The published content does not constitute counterfeiting, passing off, or any other form of intellectual property infringement
• The published content is accurate, complete, and safe for the stated intended use

Important: Publishing a spare part model that reproduces a design protected by a registered patent or design right without authorisation from the rights holder is an infringement of industrial property law. Common Parts does not verify the intellectual property status of submitted files. You bear full legal responsibility for the content you publish.

4.2 Licences for published content

When publishing a file on Common Parts Access, you must select one of the following licences:

• Creative Commons Zero 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) - public domain dedication
• Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
• Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
• MIT Licence
• GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0)

By selecting a licence, you grant Common Parts and all users of the platform the rights specified in that licence with respect to the published file. You retain authorship and ownership of your work. Common Parts does not acquire any transfer of intellectual property rights over your content.

Metadata associated with published parts - including title, description, category, material, print settings, and dimensions - is published under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) licence and enters the public domain. By submitting metadata, you waive any related rights to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

4.3 Licence granted to Common Parts

By publishing content on Common Parts Access, you grant Common Parts a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to host, display, index, distribute, and make available your published file and associated metadata, for the purpose of operating and improving the platform. This licence persists for as long as the content remains published on the platform.

Common Parts will not use your content for purposes unrelated to the operation of the platform without your explicit consent.

4.4 Attribution of curated content

Common Parts Access includes parts curated from third-party open-source repositories. Such parts are published under their original open licence, with full attribution to the original author and a link to the original source. Common Parts does not modify the licence of any file it does not author.

5. Prohibited Conduct

The following uses of Common Parts Access are strictly prohibited:

• Publishing content that infringes patents, design rights, copyrights, or any other intellectual property right
• Publishing counterfeit, deceptive, or fraudulently labelled parts
• Publishing files that contain malicious code or that are designed to damage devices or infrastructure
• Publishing content that is unlawful, defamatory, obscene, or harmful
• Scraping or extracting platform data in ways that circumvent the public API or that overload platform infrastructure
• Using automated means to create accounts, publish content, or interact with the platform in a misleading way
• Impersonating any person, manufacturer, or institution
• Attempting to reverse-engineer, decompile, or interfere with the platform’s technical infrastructure

6. Intellectual Property

6.1 Common Parts platform

The Common Parts Access platform - including its source code, interface design, and visual identity - is published under the MIT Licence and is available at the official Common Parts GitHub repository.

The Common Parts name, symbol, and certification marks are protected. No licence to use these marks is granted by these Terms. Use of Common Parts marks requires prior written authorisation from Common Parts.

6.2 User content

Each published part belongs to its author, subject to the open licence selected at the time of publication. Common Parts claims no ownership over user-published content.

6.3 Third-party rights - takedown requests

Common Parts does not verify whether published parts infringe third-party intellectual property rights. If you believe that content published on Common Parts Access infringes your rights, please contact contact@commonparts.org with a description of the content at issue, the nature of the claimed infringement, and your contact details. Common Parts will review the complaint and take appropriate action, which may include removing the content.

7. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

7.1 No warranty on published parts

Common Parts Access operates as a registry platform. Parts are published by their authors and may carry a verification status reflecting the level of review performed by the community or by Common Parts. Parts without a verified status have not been independently reviewed.

Common Parts makes no warranty, express or implied, as to the fitness, safety, dimensional accuracy, or printability of any part available on the platform. Users who download and manufacture parts do so at their own risk.

7.2 Platform availability

Common Parts Access is provided on an as-is and as-available basis. Common Parts does not warrant uninterrupted or error-free access to the platform and reserves the right to suspend the service for maintenance or security reasons without prior notice where urgency requires.

7.3 Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Common Parts shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages arising from use of or inability to use Common Parts Access, including damages arising from reliance on published parts, loss of data, or service interruption.

Common Parts’ total aggregate liability for any claim arising under these Terms shall not exceed the amount paid by the user to Common Parts in the twelve months preceding the claim.

8. Third-Party Links and Content

Common Parts Access may reference or link to third-party platforms, including original source repositories for curated parts. These links are provided for attribution and reference only. Common Parts is not responsible for the content, availability, or practices of third-party websites.

9. Modifications to the Service

Common Parts reserves the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of Common Parts Access at any time. Reasonable advance notice will be provided to registered users where practicable. Common Parts shall not be liable to you or any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuation of the service.

10. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms of Use are governed by and construed in accordance with French law, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

In the event of a dispute arising from these Terms or your use of Common Parts Access, the parties agree to first attempt to resolve the dispute informally by contacting contact@commonparts.org. If the dispute cannot be resolved within 30 days, it shall be submitted to the competent courts of France.

If you are a consumer resident in the European Union, you may also use the European Commission’s Online Dispute Resolution platform at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.

11. Miscellaneous

If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.

The failure of Common Parts to enforce any right or provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that right or provision.

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and Common Parts with respect to your use of Common Parts Access.

12. Contact

For any questions regarding these Terms of Use:

Common Parts

contact@commonparts.org

access.commonparts.org