Updated September 23, 2026
These Terms of Use (“Terms”) apply to your use of the websites, software and services provided by Open Concept Lab LLC (“OCL”, “we”, “us”) — including openconceptlab.org, the OCL TermBrowser, the OCL Mapper and the OCL API (together, the “Services”).
By accessing or using the Services, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Services. If you are using the Services on behalf of an organization, you are agreeing to these Terms on that organization’s behalf.
Please read these Terms alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle information.
Open-source software and separate agreements
Much of OCL’s software is published under an open-source license. Where software is distributed to you under an open-source license, that license governs your use of it. If these Terms conflict with that license, follow the license. See our License page, and the license stated on each repository, for details.
If you have a separate written agreement with OCL, that agreement works the same way: where it differs from these Terms, the agreement applies.
Your account
You are responsible for the activity that happens under your account and for keeping your credentials secure. Please give us accurate information when you register, and tell us promptly if you believe your account has been compromised.
If you administer an organization on OCL, you are responsible for the people you give access to it and for what they do with that access.
Acceptable use
Please use the Services lawfully and considerately. Do not:
- break any law that applies to you or to OCL;
- publish content you do not have the right to publish, or that infringes someone else’s rights;
- upload patient data or other protected health information;
- attempt to gain unauthorized access to any account, system or data;
- interfere with the normal operation of the Services, or place an unreasonable load on them;
- work around rate limits, access controls, or the limits of your plan;
- use the Services to distribute malware or spam, or to harass or abuse anyone;
- misrepresent who you are or who you are affiliated with.
Our Code of Conduct describes the behavior we expect in OCL’s community spaces.
Content published on OCL
OCL is a hosting platform. The terminologies, code systems, value sets, mappings and other content published on OCL (“Content”) are created and owned by the people and organizations that publish them. Unless a repository states otherwise, that publisher is not OCL. Open Concept Lab also maintains its own organization and repositories on the platform, and publishes the Content in them under the license stated on each repository.
This applies to every repository on OCL, whoever publishes it: where a repository states license or copyright terms, those terms govern your use of its Content. If a repository does not state them, you should not assume you are permitted to use its Content. The availability of Content through OCL does not by itself mean that you are permitted to use it, and does not imply endorsement by OCL or by any content owner.
You are responsible for identifying and complying with the license that applies to any Content you use. Some Content is freely reusable; other Content requires attribution, restricts commercial use, or requires you to hold your own license from its publisher. Where Content within a repository includes material owned by a further third party, that party’s terms apply in addition. You must keep any copyright notice, license reference and identifier associated with Content when you export, display or redistribute it.
If you publish Content on OCL, you confirm that you have the right to do so, to make it available on the terms you have stated, and to grant the rights described in these Terms.
Your content and the rights you grant us
You keep ownership of the Content you publish on OCL. We do not claim it.
You grant us the rights we need to provide the Services: to store, host, back up, copy, index, analyze, reproduce and display your Content, and to make it available in the way you have chosen — including to operate, secure, support and improve the Services. If you make a repository public, you are asking us to publish it — so you also grant us and other users the right to access, use and redistribute that Content in accordance with the license you have stated for it. Where you have not stated a license, you grant us and other users the right to access, view, export and redistribute that Content through the Services for as long as the repository is public.
We also learn from how the Services are used. We collect information about activity on them — such as which features are used, API requests, and whether suggested mappings are accepted or rejected — and may use it, and aggregated or de-identified information derived from your use of the Services, to maintain and improve them, including our search, matching and AI-assisted features.
We never publish your private Content or make it available to other users beyond those you share it with, unless the law requires it. When we use it to improve the Services, we use it only in aggregated or de-identified form.
You are responsible for the accuracy of the license and copyright information you state on your repositories.
AI-assisted features
Some parts of the Services — including the OCL Mapper and terminology matching — use AI to propose results. These are suggestions, and a person needs to review them. Mappings that will be used in clinical care, in reporting, or for any other consequential purpose should be reviewed by someone qualified to judge them.
When you use these features, your Content may be sent to third-party service providers, such as AI model providers, to generate results. They process it under their own terms. Do not use these features with Content you are not permitted to share with a third party.
Third-party services
The Services let you connect other services to OCL — for example, an AI assistant using the OCL MCP server, your own tools calling the OCL API, or systems you export Content into. Those services are not part of the Services and are governed by their own terms. You use them at your own risk, and we are not responsible for them or for what happens to Content once it leaves OCL at your direction.
No warranty; not a substitute for professional judgment
The Services and the Content are provided “as is” and “as available”. We make no warranty of any kind, express or implied, including any warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement, and no representation as to the accuracy, completeness, currency or availability of any Content, mapping or translation.
Because terminology is used in many different contexts, it is your responsibility to validate any Content for your particular purpose before operational or clinical use. Nothing in the Services is medical advice. Use of the Services is not a substitute for a health care provider’s standard practice or professional judgment, and any decision about the appropriateness of treatment, or about the validity or reliability of any Content, is the sole responsibility of the health care provider.
OCL is a terminology management platform. It is not a clinical record system and is not designed to hold patient data. Do not upload protected health information to OCL.
Limitation of liability
We do not exclude or limit our liability where it would be unlawful for us to do so.
Subject to that, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, OCL is not liable for any indirect, special, incidental, consequential or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill or anticipated savings, arising out of or in connection with your use of, or inability to use, the Services or any Content — whether the claim is made in contract, in tort (including negligence) or otherwise, and even if we have been advised that such damages were possible.
Your Content if your plan changes
Your plan decides which features you can use and how much you can create. It does not decide whether we keep what you have published. If a subscription lapses or you move to a plan that includes less:
- Public Content stays published. We do not delete or hide it because of the change. If your new plan does not let you edit it, it becomes read-only until you upgrade.
- Private Content stays private. We never make it public because of a plan change. If your new plan does not include private Content, it becomes read-only; after at least 30 days’ notice it may be archived and then removed, unless you export it, make it public or upgrade.
- Features your new plan does not include, such as full use of the OCL Mapper or higher limits, stop being available to you.
You can export your Content at any time, on any plan, including the free plan. Our Pricing page lists what each plan includes.
Suspension, termination and removal requests
You can stop using the Services at any time.
We may suspend or end access to the Services, or remove Content, where these Terms have been breached, where we are required to do so by law, or where it is necessary to protect the Services or the people who use them. Where the circumstances allow it, we will tell you first and give you an opportunity to put things right.
If you believe that Content published on OCL infringes your rights or should not be there, please write to us at info@openconceptlab.org with enough detail to identify it, and we will review it.
Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. When we do, we will change the date at the top of this page. If a change meaningfully reduces your rights, we will give you notice by email or in the product before it takes effect.
Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.
Contact us
Open Concept Lab LLC — info@openconceptlab.org