Last updated: November 8, 2025
These Terms of Use (“Terms”) constitute a legally binding agreement between you (the “User”) and italaw.com (“italaw”, “we”, or “us”), based in British Columbia, Canada, concerning your access to and use of the italaw.com website (the “Site”), the documents, materials, and data available through it (the “Content”), and any information, documents, or materials you submit or transmit to italaw by email or other means (collectively, “Submissions”).
BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SITE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTOOD, AND AGREED TO BE LEGALLY BOUND BY THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY CEASE ALL USE OF THE SITE AND CONTENT.
1. Description of Service and Content
1.1. Nature of Content: The Site provides a free, publicly accessible, and searchable database of documents, materials and other information related to international investment law and arbitration. The content includes but is not limited to: investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) awards, decisions, and other ISDS documents (e.g., procedural orders, dissenting opinions, submissions); related court proceedings (e.g., set-aside decisions, enforcement decisions and parallel proceedings); and other materials and information relevant to international investment arbitration.
1.2. Intended Purpose: The Site is intended strictly for informational, academic, and professional legal practice purposes only. This includes use by law firms and legal counsel to research and prepare for arbitration proceedings or related matters on behalf of their clients, subject to all other terms herein.
2. No Advice, Confidentiality, and Disclaimer
2.1. Content is Not Advice: The Content is provided for general information and research only and does not constitute, and should not be relied upon as, professional advice, legal opinion, or a substitute for professional legal consultation in any specific matter.
2.2. No Endorsement: italaw does not endorse, verify, or warrant the accuracy, completeness, or current status of any document, statement or other materials within the Content. Users must always verify any document, statement or other materials and their legal status with the official or primary source.
2.3. Confidentiality of Providers: The identity of any provider of documents, materials, or other information to italaw shall remain confidential. Italaw will not disclose the source of such content unless the provider expressly requests disclosure of their name or italaw is legally required to do so. The provider acknowledges that they must comply with all applicable laws, including copyright laws, and agrees to indemnify and hold italaw harmless from any responsibility or liability arising from the submission or use of such documents, materials, or other information.
2.4. Limitation of Liability (British Columbia Law): To the fullest extent permitted by the laws of British Columbia and Canada, italaw is not liable, nor are its editors, associates, affiliates, and agents, for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including loss of data, loss of profits, or business interruption, arising from your use of or reliance on the Site or the Content.
2.5. Third-Party Links and Sponsorship Displays: The Site may contain links to third-party websites or services that are not owned or controlled by italaw ("Third-Party Links"). italaw has no control over, and assumes no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any Third-Party Links.
The Site may also display logos, statements, expressions and links of entities that provide financial or in-kind support to italaw ("Sponsors"). Such displays are for acknowledgment purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement, recommendation, or warranty by italaw of the Sponsor's services, products, views or practice.
2.6. Sponsor Disclaimer: The Site may be supported by sponsors, patrons, or donors. You acknowledge that italaw maintains full editorial independence from these entities or individuals, which are not involved in editorial selection, content management, or database maintenance and shall bear no responsibility for the publication, accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the Content provided on the Site.
3. Intellectual Property Rights and Permitted Use
3.1. Ownership of Site Compilation: While many documents in the Content may be in the public domain or under the copyright of the original authors, the selection, coordination, arrangement, and enhancement of the Content, the underlying database structure, and all other Site components are the exclusive property of italaw or its licensors and are protected by the Copyright Act (Canada) and international intellectual property laws.
3.2. Permitted License: italaw grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to access and use the Site and the Content for personal, academic, and professional legal practice purposes.
3.3. Attribution of Content: You may republish Content posted on the Site, provided that such use complies with all other applicable terms outlined herein, including but not limited to: the Prohibited Uses and Restrictions on AI/Automated Access, Prohibition on Commercial Exploitation of the Database, and the Mass Download and Distribution Prohibition.
When reproducing or publishing any portion of the Content, you are strongly encouraged to include a clear and visible reference to italaw.com as the source of the material. This acknowledgment recognizes italaw’s efforts in compiling and maintaining the Content for public access.
3.4. User Submissions and Grant of License: If you submit or contribute any document, material or data (collectively, "Submissions") to italaw, you automatically grant italaw a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such Submissions in any media now known or hereafter developed. You warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the Submissions and that the Submissions do not infringe upon the rights of any third party. You acknowledge that you must comply with all applicable laws, including copyright laws, and agree to indemnify and hold italaw harmless from any responsibility or liability arising from the submission or use of such content.
3.5. Notice and Takedown Procedure: If you believe that any Content on the Site infringes your copyright or other intellectual property rights, please provide italaw with a written notice detailing the specific work, the infringing material's location, and contact information. italaw will respond to such notices in accordance with applicable Canadian intellectual property law and reserves the right to remove any Content alleged to be infringing without prior notice and at its sole discretion.
4. Prohibited Uses and Restrictions on AI/Automated Access
You agree that you will not engage in any of the following prohibited activities:
4.1. AI/Machine Learning (ML) Training: You are strictly prohibited from using the Content, or any portion thereof, for the purpose of training, developing, fine-tuning, or testing any large language model (LLM), machine learning (ML) model, artificial intelligence (AI) system, or any similar generative or analytical technology that is intended to process or generate legal, quasi-legal, or ISDS-related analysis or documents.
4.2. Automated Access (Scraping/Crawling): You may not use any robot, spider, scraper, deep-link, data-mining tool, or other automated process or programmatic method to access, harvest, extract, copy, monitor, or obtain the Content in bulk, or to circumvent any access controls or technical measures implemented by italaw. Manual browsing and search queries by a human user are permitted.
4.3. Commercial Exploitation (of the database): You may not use the Site or Content for any purpose that involves selling, licensing, renting, or otherwise commercially exploiting the compilation, structure, or access to the database itself, without the express prior written consent of italaw.
4.4. Mass Download and Distribution Prohibition: You are prohibited from engaging in any form of bulk or systematic downloading.
4.5. Unlawful Use: You will not use the Site for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms, or in a manner that violates any applicable laws in British Columbia, Canada, or your local jurisdiction.
4.6. Security and Account Responsibility: If the Site requires you to create an account or password, you are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account information, including your password, and for all activities that occur under your account. You agree to notify italaw immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security. italaw will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with this section.
4.7. Compensation for Unauthorized Use: By using the Site, you acknowledge and agree that the unauthorized use of the Content in violation of Section 4.1 (AI/ML Training), 4.2 (Automated Access), 4.3 (Commercial Exploitation), or 4.4 (Mass Download and Distribution Prohibition) constitutes a breach of these Terms and causes irreparable financial harm to italaw, its editors and associates.
4.8. Compensation Agreement: If you engage in any unauthorized use described above without the express prior written consent of italaw, you agree to compensate italaw for the value of the unauthorized use, taking into account the cumulative, long-term labour, monetary investment, and editorial effort expended to maintain and operate the Site and compile and update the Content since its inception in 2004. This compensation shall be based on the reasonable commercial value of the unauthorized use, and you agree to negotiate in good faith to determine this value. Failure to agree on a compensation amount will allow italaw to seek all available legal and equitable remedies, including recovery of all costs associated with enforcement, and to pursue statutory damages and/or liquidated damages reflecting the gravity of the unauthorized use of a two-decade-old, continuously maintained legal compilation, as permitted by the governing laws of British Columbia and Canada.
5. Special Licensing and Permissions
5.1. Request for Commercial or Bulk Use: If you wish to use the Site's Content for any purpose that falls within the Prohibited Uses described in Section 4 (such as commercial exploitation of the database compilation, systematic bulk downloading, or use for training proprietary AI/ML models), or if your planned use otherwise exceeds the Permitted License under Section 3.2, you must seek and obtain an express, written commercial license or specific permit from italaw prior to such use.
5.2. Contact for Licensing: All requests for special licensing, bulk data permissions, or waivers to the Prohibited Uses must be submitted in writing to the Contact Information provided in Section 9. Any use of the Content outside the limited license in Section 3.2 without such explicit written permission will be considered a material breach of these Terms, subjecting the User to the remedies described in Section 4.8.
6. Indemnification
6.1. Indemnification: You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless italaw and its editors, associates, affiliates, and agents from and against all losses, expenses, damages, and costs, including reasonable legal fees, arising out of or relating to your breach of these Terms (especially Section 4), your violation of any applicable law or the rights of a third party, or any claim arising from your prohibited use of the Site.
7. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
7.1. Governing Law: These Terms and your use of the Site shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of British Columbia and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict of law principles.
7.2. Jurisdiction: You irrevocably attorn to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Province of British Columbia located in Victoria, British Columbia, for the resolution of any disputes arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Site.
8. General Provisions
8.1. Changes to Terms: italaw reserves the right to modify or replace these Terms at any time without prior notice. We will publish the revised Terms of Use on the Site. It is your responsibility to check the website for updated Terms of Use. Your continued use of the Site after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms.
8.2. Termination: italaw reserves the right to terminate your access to the Site at its sole discretion, without notice, for any breach of these Terms.
9. Contact Information
9.1. Contact: If you have any questions about these Terms, or if you would like to request a commercial license or specific permit for use of the Content as outlined in Section 5, please contact us.