The Trend Micro Global Products Agreement (GPA) is the standard contract for commercial use of Trend products. It opens by stating that the right to use Trend products for commercial purposes is subject to acceptance of the agreement and that different terms apply to products for personal, home or consumer use.[1] The version cited here has a Publication Date of 20 May 2026 and applies globally except Japan, although it also covers purchases through AWS Marketplace in Japan.[1] The “Agreement” includes the referenced Maintenance, Hardware, PSP, Professional Services and Documentation terms, its Schedules, the Data Processing Addendum and the Certificate.[1] The GPA is the source for most of the contractual rules that a software asset manager needs for Trend: how Capacity is measured, who may use the products, what happens on overuse and how audits run.
Editions
The GPA is not edition-specific. It applies one set of terms to Software, Hardware, Services (including Cloud Services and managed detection and response) and Maintenance, and it applies them through three purchase routes: direct from Trend, through a Reseller, or through a Marketplace Provider acting only as seller of record.[1] Through a Reseller, price and payment terms are agreed with the Reseller, but all other terms come from the GPA, and no Reseller may act on Trend’s behalf.[1]
The GPA is expressly not a master purchase agreement. It applies only to the instant Order; each later Order is subject to the then-current version, and by ordering or using a product the Company accepts the published version and all future versions, “WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE MOST RECENT VERSION WILL ALWAYS APPLY” (rule).[1] For licence records this means each Certificate should be stored with the GPA version in force when it was issued, and the current version checked at each renewal.
Metrics
The GPA sets no product metric itself. It uses three contractual concepts:
- Capacity: “the use rights purchased for Software and/or the usage capacity and/or the Credits purchased for Products … based upon the applicable licensing measurement as described in the Certificate”.[1]
- Certificate: Trend’s written confirmation of the Products ordered, including the Capacity. The Company “is advised to retain the Certificate as proof of its entitlement”, and where an Order and a Certificate conflict the Certificate controls.[1]
- Credits: the universal licensing unit for Trend Vision One, bought upfront and expiring at the end of the Subscription Period.[1]
Time is measured in a Subscription Period, “the limited period (such as per host hour, month, or year, but never for a Perpetual Period)”, or a Perpetual Period of indefinite length.[1]
Counting / floors
Grant and Internal Business Use
Section 2.1 grants a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-assignable right for End Users to access and use a Product for the Capacity, a licence to install Software on equipment owned, controlled or operated by or on behalf of the Company (including BYOL), and a right to make a commercially reasonable number of copies for training, back-up, archival and disaster recovery.[1] All use must follow the Documentation and be for Internal Business Use, defined as use solely by and for the direct benefit of the Company in connection with the security of its own systems, networks, devices, documents, emails and data (rule).[1]
Affiliates, Contractors and BYOL
Section 2.2 lets the Company authorise, with no additional fees, its Affiliates (entities controlled by, controlling or under common control with it, by more than 50% ownership), Contractors that provide business process support, technical support, hosting or outsourcing solely for the Company, and BYOL hosted environments (rule).[1] The Company must have a written agreement with each Contractor, is responsible for Affiliates and Contractors, and must route all support requests itself.[1] Affiliate rights last only “for so long as such entity remains an Affiliate”, so a divested business needs its own licences.
Restrictions
Section 2.3 applies to all Products, including trials and free products. It prohibits, among other things, licensing, selling, renting or transferring a Product to a third party; using a Product to provide services to third parties, including as a paid or unpaid service bureau or on a time-share basis; tampering with usage metering or billing mechanisms to avoid fees; reverse engineering; merging Software into other software; building a competing product; and publishing benchmark results without consent.[1] Trend Competitors may not use Trend products, and any breach of s.2.3 is a material breach.[1] The Company’s liability for breach of these use restrictions is excluded from the limitation of liability.[1]
Excess use and true-up
Exceeding Capacity requires a prompt purchase of additional quantity to true-up and payment of excess use fees at the rates in the Quote or Private Offer; failure to remediate is a material breach (rule).[1] Section 3.7 adds for Credits that usage is metered daily and drawn down monthly, that the Company is solely responsible for managing its usage, and that it is possible to exceed Capacity during a Subscription Period.[1] Trend may suspend or terminate if, after written notice, the Company does not buy the additional Capacity or pay the excess fees within a reasonable period.[1]
Audit
Section 3.10 has three layers (rule):[1]
| Clause | What Trend may do | Customer obligation |
|---|---|---|
| s.3.10(a) certain Products | Access Products to verify usage by technical means during the Term | Provide a system-generated usage report within 30 days of request |
| s.3.10(b) all other Products | Request records | Keep accurate records sufficient to verify Capacity and use during the Term and for 2 years after expiry |
| s.3.10(c) general audit right | Audit by an internationally recognised audit firm, on 20 days’ written notice, at most once per calendar year | Provide all records and information reasonably necessary |
If an audit shows fees owed, deployment beyond the Certificate or other non-compliance, the Company must correct it and pay the underpaid amounts, and Trend may disclose the results to the Reseller or Marketplace Provider. If unlicensed or excess use is greater than 10% of the actual Capacity or licensed use, the Company reimburses Trend’s reasonable audit costs (rule).[1]
Maintenance and versions
Subscription Software and Cloud Services include Maintenance for the whole Subscription Period. Perpetual Period Software includes Maintenance for one year from Delivery, after which it is ordered in minimum one-year increments; if it lapses, reinstatement needs back-payment from the date of lapse plus, for lapses over 90 days, a reinstatement fee of 25%, and Trend need not reinstate after more than a year (rule).[1] The Maintenance Terms take precedence over the GPA where they conflict and define Updates, which replace or patch licensed copies without increasing Capacity; Separate Modules sold for new consideration are not Updates.[2] New Versions, generally a change of the number before the decimal point, are sold for new consideration and replace the prior version, which must be uninstalled (rule).[1]
Trend may discontinue any Product under its End-of-Life policies, and End-of-Life is not a breach provided existing Orders are fulfilled.[1] Maintenance is not renewed beyond an End-of-Life period, even for perpetual licences (rule).[2] The supported-products list defines End-of-Life as “the date when maintenance for a product and service is no longer available”.[5]
Term, refunds and termination
Subscription licences last until the Subscription Period expires and perpetual licences continue indefinitely unless terminated.[1] Fees are non-refundable and not subject to credit, offset or pro-ration except in stated cases. The Company may terminate for convenience but must still pay committed spend and all payment obligations to the original expiry date, with no refund of prepaid fees; a pro-rata refund applies only when the Company terminates for Trend’s uncured material breach (rule).[1] On termination the Company must stop use, destroy all copies of the Software and certify this on request.[1] Marketplace auto-renewals are at Trend’s then-current fees under the then-current GPA.[1]
Assignment
The Company may not assign the GPA or sublicense its rights without Trend’s prior written consent, and an attempted assignment without consent is void; Trend may assign to its Affiliates without consent.[1] Mergers, carve-outs and internal reorganisations therefore need Trend’s consent before licences move to another legal entity. TippingPoint Hardware is the exception: it may be transferred to a bona fide purchaser, who may enforce the remaining warranty (rule).[4]
Virtualization & partitioning
The GPA does not contain virtualisation or partitioning rules. It defers to the “applicable licensing measurement as described in the Certificate” and to the Documentation, which the GPA says Trend may revise at its discretion without amending the agreement.[1] Counting rules for virtual machines and containers are therefore found in product documentation; see Trend Vision One credits.
Cloud / BYOL
For marketplace purchases the agreement is with Trend, not the Marketplace Provider, which has no obligation to provide the Product, maintenance or warranty handling.[1] A Private Offer prevails over the GPA where they conflict, excess usage under a Private Offer is paid under its terms, and a Company that accepts a Private Offer waives statutory termination rights in favour of the Private Offer’s own termination provisions.[1] Marketplace orders are contracted with Trend Micro Incorporated, a California corporation, whatever the customer’s location (rule).[3]
Programs
Contracting entity and governing law
The Contracting Entity and Governing Law Schedule names the Trend entity and law by customer region. Customers in the United States and Canada contract with Trend Micro Incorporated of Irving, Texas, under New York law with exclusive jurisdiction in New York courts; customers in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland contract with Trend Micro (Ireland) Limited under Irish law; and customers in Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia contract with Trend Micro Singapore Pte Ltd.[3] Trend may update the Schedule, with updates applying to agreements entered into after posting.[3]
Test Products and Free Products
Evaluations, trials, previews and proofs of concept are Test Products, usable only for internal evaluation in a non-production environment for the agreed period, without warranty or Maintenance; continued use after the test period is payable at list or Quoted price (rule).[1] Trend’s liability for paid Test Products is capped at USD 1,000.[1] Free Products, including those on the Vision One platform, may be used only for Internal Business Use.[1]
Out of scope
Premium support (PSP) and Professional Services are not subject to the GPA and are provided under separate regional service agreements or a statement of work.[1] Trend’s general liability is capped at direct damages up to the fees paid for the product in the 12 months before the claim; data-protection terms are in the separate Data Processing Addendum. Neither is covered in detail here.[1]