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This is a translation; the German version is binding. Read in German (SaaS-Bedingungen)

Version 2026-11-08

These terms apply to the hosted service (the API that we run). The software in the download package is covered by the EULA; services under an offer are covered by the terms and conditions (German only). The limits of fair use are on the page Fair use, which is part of these terms.

1. Provider, scope, businesses only

1.1 The provider is Helm & Nagel GmbH, Rosenweg 5, 35614 Aßlar, Germany, represented by the managing directors Christopher Vincent Helm and Florian Michael Zyprian, Wetzlar local court HRB 7706, VAT ID DE306902936 ("we"). Contact: info@ocr-software.com.

1.2 These terms apply to every use of the service by customers ("you") as far as we run it. An offer from us in text form and our general terms and conditions take precedence where they differ.

1.3 We offer the service only to businesses within the meaning of section 14 of the German Civil Code and to legal entities under public law. Consumers (section 13 of the German Civil Code) are excluded. By using the service, the customer declares to be a business acting for that activity. In case of doubt we may ask for proof and refuse use until we have it.

1.4 Conflicting or deviating terms of the customer do not apply, even without express objection. Individual agreements take precedence (section 305b of the German Civil Code) but need our confirmation in text form.

1.5 Before we issue a key, we point to these terms, keep them available for retrieval and storage, and have the customer confirm in text form that they apply. Without this confirmation we do not release a key.

2. No claim to the service

2.1 The service is an offer that we make voluntarily. We owe no provision, no access, no availability, no particular scope and no particular duration unless we have promised it in an individual case in text form. This applies even if the service is already running and even if we have given a customer a key.

2.2 We may switch the service on, change it, limit it, suspend it for a time or discontinue it at any time, and refuse or block individual customers or keys, without giving a reason. No claim of the customer arises from this unless something else has been promised and sections 8.4 and 8.5 do not provide otherwise.

2.3 A promise applies only if it is in text form, comes from us, calls itself a promise expressly and names scope and duration. The annexes (service levels, data processing, technical and organisational measures) apply only as far as such a promise includes them.

2.4 Whether a promise carries a duty to pay is stated in the promise. As long as billing is not switched on, there is no page price; we advertise none.

3. Service

3.1 We process the customer's PDF documents and images into text and structured data (OCR) and deliver the result through the API. What each pipeline (name and version) delivers is in its description on the website ("pipeline specification"). It is part of the agreed quality as far as we owe anything.

3.2 Every pipeline is versioned (name@version). Whether it gives the same results for the same version and the same input is stated by the specification of each pipeline; we owe only what is promised there. Pipelines with a language model (scan-vlm-ctc) are not reproducible: the same input can give different text under load, which is not a defect. Rounding in the GPU can cause a measured residual noise that the specification names and that is not a defect. Improvements appear as a new version, never silently in an existing one. We may switch a version off with 90 days' notice in text form.

3.3 What a pipeline does not deliver (for example word boxes with a pure vision model) is stated in the specification and is expressly missing from the result. This is not a defect.

3.4 The answer contains status and quality signals per page as far as the pipeline specification names them. Quality signals are not a diagnosis and not a promise that a page is free of errors (section 8.2).

3.5 We may use subcontractors, for example to rent the server. Section 9.3 applies when personal data is processed.

4. Keys, fair use, limits

4.1 The key is kept secret and not passed on, except to affiliated companies and service providers who use it for the customer. The customer is liable for use with its key as far as it is responsible for it. If misuse is suspected, it informs us without delay; we may block and replace the key.

4.2 Use follows fair use (Fair use). We do not state or promise a fixed number of pages. On heavy or unfair use we may throttle the key, limit the acceptance of further pages for a time, or block it. No duty to pay arises from throttling or blocking.

4.3 We may set limits (requests per time, simultaneous jobs, size per file, pages per job). The values are on the fair use page and in the API documentation.

4.4 The customer does not misuse the service: no malware, no overload, no attempt to read out models or weights, nothing against sanctions and export law. It may use the API in applications and services for its own customers; it does not resell it as its own OCR interface unless we agree in text form.

4.5 The customer sends only documents for which it has the necessary rights. It sends special categories of personal data (Art. 9 GDPR) and professional secrets (section 203 of the German Criminal Code) only if it has a legal basis or is authorised and the technical and organisational measures (annex) suffice for its risk.

5. Counting, prices, payment

This section applies only if a promise names prices or we have switched billing on.

5.1 Counting rule. A "page" is a page of a pipeline in one version that was accepted for processing and finished successfully. Not charged: pages that we do not deliver because of an error on our side; pages of an aborted or interrupted job that were not finished (a job interrupted by a restart runs to the end, each page is booked exactly once); repetitions of the same page by us. If the customer repeats a page itself, it is a new page. Pages over the limits of the documentation are refused and not charged. The job log shows pipeline, version and page count per job; it counts as proof of quantity and pipeline, the customer may produce evidence to the contrary.

5.2 Prices are in the promise. All prices are net prices in EUR; statutory VAT is added. Price changes apply to new promises; for running ones only after 8 weeks from notice in text form, and until then the customer may terminate with immediate effect.

5.3 Quotas and credit limit (as far as promised): the customer books quotas in pages. A package expires 24 months after activation. Until payment, a limit applies to the pages processed without received payment; we name it in the promise. If it is reached and no payment has arrived, we may switch the key off (sections 320 and 321 of the German Civil Code); accepted pages run to the end and are charged. Due dates and default remain unaffected.

5.4 Invoices contain the mandatory details under section 14(4) of the German VAT Act; to domestic businesses we issue them in the electronic format required by law as soon as and as far as the law demands it. With a VAT ID from another EU state, the service is taxed at the customer's seat (section 3a(2) of the German VAT Act); the invoice carries the note "reverse charge", the customer gives a valid VAT ID and is liable for false details.

5.5 Payment term: 14 days net from receipt of the invoice by bank transfer, without deduction. The customer is in default without a reminder if it does not pay within 14 days of receipt (section 286(2) no. 2 of the German Civil Code); statutory default interest (section 288(2)) and the flat fee of EUR 40 (section 288(5)) apply. Set-off and right of retention only with undisputed or finally established claims.

5.6 Invoice complaints within 30 days of receipt in text form. A later complaint does not exclude statutory rights but does not extend the payment term for undisputed amounts.

6. Duties of the customer

The customer chooses the pipeline itself and checks on its own sample pages before use whether it suits its purpose. It supplies readable input, keeps the key secret, backs up its results itself, and checks pages that the answer marks as failed or uncertain.

7. Availability and support

7.1 We owe availability, maintenance, credits and support only as far as we have promised them in an individual case in text form and have included the service levels (annex, German only). Without such a promise there is no promise of availability, response time or support.

7.2 We are not liable for outages due to force majeure, disturbances at network, data centre or supplier level, and attacks by third parties, as far as we are not responsible for them. Interrupted jobs continue without double charging (section 5.1).

8. Defects and liability

8.1 As far as we have committed to something, the contract on use of the API is a contract with elements of rental (provision for the term) and of a contract for work (a result per accepted page). Strict liability for initial defects (section 536a(1) alt. 1 of the German Civil Code) is excluded.

8.2 Quality, no promise of accuracy. We owe the quality described in the specification of the chosen pipeline, no more. We promise no accuracy beyond it, in particular not that a result is free of errors, complete or fit for a particular purpose. Measurements (benchmarks, previews, examples) describe runs on our own test data, not on the customer's documents. No page is guaranteed to be free of errors, not even without a warning in the answer.

8.3 Not a basis for decisions. The output replaces no professional, legal, tax or medical review and must not be the sole basis, without human control, for decisions that significantly affect persons or touch payments, contracts, safety or health.

8.4 Unlimited liability. We are liable without limit for intent and gross negligence, for injury to life, body or health, under the Product Liability Act, for fraudulently concealed defects and for an expressly given guarantee.

8.5 Limited liability. For simple negligence we are liable only for breach of essential contractual duties (duties whose fulfilment makes the contract possible in the first place and on which the customer may regularly rely), limited to the damage foreseeable at the conclusion of the contract and typical for such a contract. Liability per case of damage is limited to the remuneration paid in the 12 months before the damaging event, but at least EUR 25,000; per contract year to twice this amount. If the service is used free of charge, we are liable only under section 8.4.

8.6 Rights for defects (only as far as we have promised a service). The customer reports obvious defects within 14 days of retrieval and defects not recognisable without delay after discovery, each in text form with a sample page or job ID (section 377 of the German Commercial Code applies to merchants). We process the page again or, if that does not help, credit the price of the pages concerned. If that also fails, the customer may reduce the price or, if the defect is significant, terminate without notice. Claims for defects expire 12 months after delivery of the result; not in case of intent, fraud, the cases of section 8.4 and claims under the Product Liability Act.

8.7 Otherwise liability for simple negligence is excluded. For loss of data we are liable only if the customer has regularly backed up its data itself and the damage was avoidable with proper backup. Sections 8.4 to 8.7 also apply to our legal representatives, employees and agents; claims under Art. 82 GDPR remain unaffected.

8.8 The customer indemnifies us against claims of third parties that rest on unlawful content or missing rights in the documents sent, as far as it is responsible for that. We inform it without delay when a claim is made and agree the legal defence with it.

9. Data protection, confidentiality, documents

9.1 Storage time. The customer's document is held only while the job runs (private job store, readable only by the service) and is deleted at the end of the job. The result stays ready for retrieval, by default 24 hours, and is removed afterwards; the customer may delete it earlier. Backups never contain documents or results. We log which pipeline in which version was applied how (time, key identifier, page count, status), never content; to defend against abuse we keep the client address for a short time (details in the privacy notice and in the technical and organisational measures).

9.2 We never use the customer's documents and results for training, improving or evaluating models and do not pass them on, except to subcontractors under section 3.5 for processing.

9.3 If documents contain personal data, we are the processor under Art. 28 GDPR and the customer is the controller. The data processing agreement (annex, German only) applies, which the customer concludes with the confirmation under section 1.5, with the technical and organisational measures (annex, German only). For contact and invoice data we are the controller ourselves; the privacy notice applies.

9.4 Both sides keep trade secrets of the other confidential and use them only for the contract, for 3 years after its end. Exceptions: legal duties, advisers under a duty of confidentiality, information that is public without a breach. We name customers and logos only with consent in text form.

10. Rights, third-party software

10.1 As long as we run the service and let it be used, we grant the customer the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to use the API for its own business purposes. Rights in the service, models, weights, pipelines and documentation remain with us or our licensors. Rights in the customer's documents and in the results remain with the customer.

10.2 The service uses free third-party software, for example PaddleOCR models (Apache-2.0) and poppler (GPL, as a separate process). Licence texts and notices are on the page Third-party software. These licences apply to the respective parts and are not restricted by these terms.

11. Term and termination

11.1 There is no minimum term unless something has been promised. The customer may end at any time; we may end at any time without notice (section 2.2); we terminate a running promise with 30 days' notice. Remuneration incurred until then remains owed.

11.2 The right to terminate for good cause (section 314 of the German Civil Code) remains unaffected; good cause is in particular a breach of section 1.3, 4.4 or 4.5, continued default in payment or insolvency.

11.3 With the end, access ends; we delete the customer's data on our servers.

12. Changes to these terms

We may change these terms for future users. For running promises, changes apply only if the customer agrees in text form; otherwise the previous terms continue and we may terminate under section 11.1. There is no consent by silence.

13. Final provisions

13.1 German law applies, excluding the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). The German version of these terms is binding; the English one is a translation. Mandatory rules remain unaffected.

13.2 The place of jurisdiction, if the customer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, is Wetzlar (section 38 of the German Code of Civil Procedure). We may also sue the customer at its general place of jurisdiction.

13.3 Declarations in text form (section 126b of the German Civil Code) suffice unless otherwise provided. Address for declarations to us: the contact address under section 1.1.

13.4 If a provision is invalid, the others remain valid; the law applies (section 306 of the German Civil Code). The customer may transfer rights and duties only with our consent (section 354a of the German Commercial Code remains unaffected).

13.5 Consumer dispute resolution: we do not offer the service to consumers and do not take part in proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.

Annexes

Service levels, data processing and technical and organisational measures are available in German only, as annexes of the German version and apply only as far as sections 2.3 and 9.3 include them: service levels (SLA), data processing agreement (AVV), technical and organisational measures (TOM).