Licence, names and certification

17.1 Licence for the text

© 2026 Device Supply. This document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-ND 4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/.

You may copy and redistribute it in any medium or format, for any purpose, including commercially, provided that:

• you credit "Universal Grading Protocol v1.0, © Device Supply";
• you link to the licence;
• you do not distribute modified versions.

Translations count as modified versions. Official translations are published by the steward.

17.2 Using the standard needs no licence

Grading devices to UGP, showing UGP grade names, codes and tests, and implementing the core code, schema and grading logic in any product (including commercial products) are free and need no permission. The licence in 17.1 covers copying the document itself.

17.3 What the licence does not cover

CC BY-ND 4.0 does not grant rights in names, logos or badges (licence §2(b)(2)). Their use is governed by 17.5.

17.4 No warranty

The standard is provided as is. Each grader or seller is responsible for its own records and claims.

17.5 Use of the UGP name and badges

(a) "Universal Grading Protocol", "UGP" and "UGP Verified", and the UGP badge artwork, are trademarks of Device Supply. They are used in commerce and are not registered.

• Device Supply and others shall not use the ® symbol with them. ® is reserved for registered marks, and using it on an unregistered mark would misstate the legal position.
• Device Supply may use ™ next to the name where it wants to signal a trademark claim; it is not required. (Informative: in Canada, rights in an unregistered mark arise from use and are protected through the tort of passing off. ™ simply signals the claim and has no registration requirement.)

(b) Anyone may, without asking:

• state "Graded to UGP v[x]", with the conformance level and verification tier, per §13.3;
• use the published grade names exactly as defined;
• refer to the standard by its name;
• display the steward's published "Graded to UGP" badge next to grades that meet §13.3.

(c) Not permitted without the steward's written agreement:

• using a UGP grade name, or the UGP name, for a different definition;
• publishing a modified version, extension or translation under the UGP name;
• using the name or badge in a way that suggests Device Supply inspected, certified, endorses or is affiliated with a device, business or product, unless it has under (d);
• using "UGP" or "Universal Grading Protocol" in a company, product or domain name.

(d) "UGP Verified" and its badge are reserved for:

• devices inspected under the steward's certification programme (V2);
• graders and facilities the steward has approved.

The steward publishes the programme rules and a public registry of approved graders and facilities.