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Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

Last Revised: November 2024

The Association of Corporate Patent Counsel (“ACPC,” “we,” “us,” and “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy. We have prepared this privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) to describe to you how we collect, use, share and protect (collectively our “Practices”) the Personal Data (as defined below) we collect from you through your interactions with us, including interactions with our branded websites that link to this Privacy Policy (the “Sites”) or through the other services we may provide such as profiles and forums, (“Services”). Please read this Privacy Policy carefully, and consult our Terms of Use for more information about the general terms and conditions regarding your use of the Sites.

This Privacy Policy contains information on our Practices regarding your Personal Data in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, including, where applicable, the European and UK data protection laws (e.g., EU GDPR, UK GDPR and other related laws) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (with any implementing regulations and as may be amended from time to time, “CCPA”).

The rights discussed in certain sections of this Privacy Policy may be subject to exemptions or other limitations under applicable law.


SECTION 1 – TYPES OF DATA WE COLLECT

In general, we or our service providers  collect information, including Personal Data, when you communicate with us and when you use the Sites. This information can be collected directly from you or from other parties as well as automatically through technology embedded in the Sites. For purposes of this Privacy Policy, “Personal Data” means data that allows someone to directly or indirectly identify or contact you, including, for example, your name, address, telephone number, or e-mail address.

(a) Information You Provide to Us

In order to access certain services provided via the Sites or to request certain information from ACPC via the Sites, you may be required to provide certain Personal Data. Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of Personal Data from or about you:

  • Contact data such as your name, mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number;
  • Financial data such as credit card or debit card numbers;
  • Demographic data such as your zip code, gender, year of birth, or national origin;
  • Commercial information, including records of products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing histories or tendencies;
  • Professional or employment-related information, including occupation, employer, and title; and
  • Internet or other electronic network activity information, including interactions with our websites or use of certain online tools, and IP addresses

Please note that some of the information collected may be considered special category data, sensitive Personal Data, sensitive data, or sensitive personal information under applicable law.

We may collect this information when you provide it to us such as through registrations or contact us forms. We may also collect Personal Data from information you provide to be published or displayed (“posted”) on private areas of the Sites, our Services, or transmitted to other users of the Sites or third parties (“User Contributions”). Your User Contributions are posted and transmitted to others at your own risk.

You may also be required to provide a username and password to access certain features. If you choose to not provide us with information, you might not be able to gain access to certain information and Services on the Sites, which rely on such information (for example, you will not be able to register for e-mail updates if you do not provide us with an e-mail address, and if you choose not to provide a username and password, we will not be able to provide you with Services available through an online account).

(b) Information Collected Automatically

As you interact with our Sites and Services, we may use certain technologies to collect information automatically from you. This may include use of cookies on our Sites to capture information about your use of the Sites and Services. This information is anonymous and ACPC uses this information only internally - to deliver the most effective content to our visitors. Information from the cookies is used to gauge page popularity, analyze traffic patterns on our Sites and guide development of other
improvements to our site. ACPC does not require that you accept cookies, however, some functionality on our Sites and our Service check-out process may be disabled if you decline to accept cookies. You can set your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether or not to accept it. You may also change your cookie settings through preferences options in our products and/or services, where applicable. ACPC never gives away information about our users. If you choose to e-mail us and provide personally identifiable information about yourself, ACPC will use this information only to respond to your inquiry. ACPC will not sell, rent or otherwise disclose that information to third parties unless such disclosure is necessary for the purposes set forth in this Policy, by law or a policy or notice contained or associated with a specific ACPC Service.


SECTION 2 – HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

In general, and depending on how you interact with us, Personal Data you submit to us is used either to respond to requests that you make or to aid us in serving you better. Depending on how you interact with us, we may use your Personal Data in the following ways:

  • to facilitate the creation of and secure your account on our network;
  • to identify you as a user in our system;
  • to provide improved administration of our Sites and Services;
  • to provide the Services you request, to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts we enter into with you, and to perform any related administrative activities necessary for us to provide you those Services or to carry out those obligations;
  • to improve the quality of experience when you interact with our Sites and Services;
  • in any other way we may describe when you provide the Personal Data;
  • to send newsletters, surveys, and other communications related to our Services;
  • to notify you about changes to our Services, in part due to our legitimate interest in keeping you informed about our Services;
  • to share your Personal Data with service providers that carry out certain activities on our behalf that involve the processing of Personal Data (to achieve our legitimate interest in improving the Services); for example, we share cookie and other information with entities such as Google in order to make our Services more relevant to you;
  • to comply with legal obligations; and
  • protect our rights, your rights, and the rights of others, as this may be necessary to meet our own high standards of business practice, as well as establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

We may create anonymous data records from Personal Data by excluding information (such as your name) that makes the data personally identifiable to you. We use this anonymous data to analyze request and usage patterns so that we may enhance the content of our Services and improve Site navigation.


SECTION 3 – CONSENT

How do you get my consent?

By submitting Personal Data through our Sites or Services, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy and you expressly consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Data in accordance with this Privacy Policy. We may engage service providers, such as those relating to soliciting and displaying customer feedback, to obtain your consent on our behalf where we have not obtained your consent directly ourselves.

How do I withdraw my consent?

If you do not wish for us to use your Personal Data in any of the manners or for any of the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, you may withdraw your consent for us to contact you, for the continued collection, use or disclosure of your information, at any time, by contacting us at info@acpcnet.org or mailing us at:

Association of Corporate Patent Counsel
PO Box 213
Latham, NY 12110
United States


SECTION 4 – SHARING OF YOUR INFORMATION

We may disclose your Personal Data as described below and as described elsewhere in this Privacy Policy. Depending on how you interact with us, we may disclose your Personal Data to the following entities, including in the following circumstances:

  • Service Providers. We may share your Personal Data with service providers to: provide you with the Services that we offer you through our Sites, including to facilitate creation of accounts; to provide technical support; and/or to provide us with other services. Certain service providers, such as payment gateways and other payment transaction processors, have their own privacy policies in respect to the information we are required to provide to them for your purchase-related transactions. For these providers, we recommend that you read their privacy policies so you can understand the manner in which your Personal Data will be handled by these providers. In particular, remember that certain providers may be located in or have facilities that are located in a different jurisdiction than either you or us.
  • As Legally Required. Regardless of any choices you make regarding your Personal Data (as described below), we may disclose Personal Data if it believes in good faith that such disclosure is necessary (i) in connection with any legal investigation; (ii) to comply with relevant laws or to respond to subpoenas or warrants served on us; (iii) to protect or defend our rights or property or users of the Sites or Services; and/or (iv) to investigate or assist in preventing any violation or potential violation of the law, this Privacy Policy, or our Terms of Use.
  • Other Disclosures. We may also disclose your Personal Data, to fulfill the purpose for which you provide it; for any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide it; or with your consent.


SECTION 5 – OTHER WEBSITES

Our Sites may contain links to other websites. Please be aware that the terms of this Privacy Policy do not apply to other websites or content, or to any collection of your Personal Data after you click on links to such outside websites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of every website you visit. The links to other websites or locations are for your convenience and do not signify our endorsement of such third parties or their products, content or websites.


SECTION 6 – YOUR CHOICES REGARDING INFORMATION

You may choose not to provide Us with any Personal Information.  In such an event, You can still access and use much of the Site; however, You will not be able to access and use those portions of the Site that require Your Personal Information.  If You do not wish to receive information and promotional material from Us or from some of Our partners, You may select the appropriate “opt-out” option each time AIPLA asks You for Personal Information.


SECTION 7 – SECURITY 

To protect your Personal Data, we take reasonable precautions and follow industry standard practices to protect the information that we collect or receive. Unfortunately, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. As such, we are unable to guarantee your data’s absolute security.


SECTION 8 – CHILDREN’S INFORMATION

By using the Sites, you represent that you are at least the age of majority in your state or province of residence. We do not knowingly solicit or collect Personal Data on the Sites from visitors who are under the age of 13.


SECTION 9 – HOW LONG WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION

We keep your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which we are using it. The period for which we keep your Personal Data is determined by a number of criteria, including the purposes for which we are using the information, the amount and sensitivity of the information, the potential risk from any unauthorized use or disclosure of the information, and our legal and regulatory obligations.


SECTION 10 – CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please review it frequently. Changes and clarifications will take effect immediately upon their posting on the Sites. If we make material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you here that it has been updated, so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we use and/or disclose it. The date the Privacy Policy was last revised is identified at the beginning of this Privacy Policy. You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address for you, and for periodically visiting our Sites and this Privacy Policy to check for any changes.

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