This Acceptable Use Policy (the “AUP”) sets out the conduct standards that apply to anyone accessing the Apex G-Score website, sample materials made available under the Sample Scorecard Access Terms, datasets made available under the Data License Terms, or datasets made available under the Academic License Terms.
The AUP supplements, and does not replace, the more detailed restrictions in those underlying agreements. In the event of any conflict between this AUP and a more specific contractual provision, the more specific provision controls.
§ 01 Lawful Use
You will use Apex's website, sample materials, and licensed datasets only for lawful purposes and only in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, including securities laws, data-protection laws, sanctions and export-control regimes, and intellectual-property laws of every jurisdiction in which you operate.
§ 02 Prohibited Activities
You will not, and will not permit any other person to:
- Misrepresent the source. Pass off any portion of an Apex deliverable as your own work, or attribute Apex's outputs to any other source.
- Manipulate markets. Use any Apex deliverable in connection with market manipulation, insider trading, front-running, spoofing, layering, or any other manipulative or deceptive trading practice.
- Defame or harass. Use any Apex deliverable to harass, intimidate, defame, or otherwise harm any individual or entity, including any director, officer, or employee of any covered issuer.
- Bypass technical controls. Circumvent or attempt to circumvent any rate limit, watermark, encryption, access control, or other technical safeguard implemented by Apex or by an Apex service provider.
- Scrape or automate. Use automated tools, scripts, headless browsers, or large-language-model agents to extract content from the public website beyond what is reasonably necessary for human review.
- Train AI. Use the public website, samples, or licensed datasets to train, fine-tune, evaluate, or benchmark any artificial-intelligence or machine-learning system, except as expressly permitted by an executed agreement.
- Reverse engineer. Attempt to derive, reconstruct, or reverse engineer the underlying scoring methodology — including indicator selection, weighting, threshold values, classification algorithms, or grade boundaries — from any combination of public materials, samples, or licensed datasets.
- Compete. Use any Apex deliverable as the basis for, or as a competitive input to, any product or service that competes with Apex's quantitative governance scoring or related offerings.
- Disrupt. Engage in any activity that interferes with or disrupts the integrity, performance, or availability of the website or its underlying infrastructure, including transmitting any malicious code or initiating any denial-of-service attack.
- Violate confidentiality. Disclose any confidential or non-public Apex material to any person not authorized to receive it under an executed agreement.
§ 03 Use of Outputs in External Communications
Subscribers may not display individual G-Score values, grades, archetype classifications, or Kill Switch flags in any external-facing channel without Apex's prior written consent. External-facing channels include public websites, marketing collateral, conference presentations, regulatory filings, news interviews, social media posts, and analyst reports made available outside the subscriber organization.
Aggregate or anonymized references — such as “our internal review draws on Apex Governance's quantitative governance dataset” — are generally permitted, subject to accurate attribution. When in doubt, consult legal@apexgscore.com.
§ 04 Stewardship and Engagement
Subscribers conducting stewardship engagement with covered issuers may, in good faith, reference the existence of Apex's quantitative governance review of the issuer in the engagement dialogue, but should not disclose the specific score, grade, archetype, or Kill Switch status to the issuer or to any third party without prior written consent. This restriction protects the integrity of the scoring framework and avoids creating informational asymmetries that could be misused.
§ 05 Reporting Misuse
If you become aware of any actual or suspected violation of this AUP — whether by your own organization, a third party, or any other person — please report it promptly to legal@apexgscore.com. Apex treats reports of suspected misuse as confidential.
§ 06 Enforcement
Apex reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to investigate suspected violations and to take appropriate action, including:
- warning the user or subscriber;
- suspending or terminating access to the website, samples, or licensed datasets;
- terminating any agreement, with consequences set out in that agreement;
- pursuing civil or criminal remedies;
- cooperating with law-enforcement or regulatory authorities.
Apex's failure to act on any particular violation does not waive its right to act on subsequent or other violations.
§ 07 Changes
Apex may update this AUP from time to time. Material changes are reflected in the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. Continued use of the website, samples, or licensed datasets after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated AUP, subject to any contrary provision in an executed agreement.