TERMS OF SERVICE AND
PRIVACY POLICY
Overview
PatentPlus IO UG (haftungsbeschränkt) takes data security and your personal privacy seriously. We take reasonable measures to secure your data and conform with the European "General Data Protection Regulation" (GDPR) on data protection and privacy. Email addresses, physical addresses, IP addresses, or other personally identifiable information will not be shared by PatentPlus except in the course of necessary business, such as processing payment or sending our email newsletters when you opted in. It may be disclosed as required by law or in response to legal processes, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of PatentPlus.
We collect information that you voluntarily give us via email, online forms, memberships, direct user engagement and commenting, and other direct contact from you. We also use third party statistics platforms and cookies to collect data in order to analyze aggregate user behaviour and monitor content popularity. We will use your information to fulfill administrative tasks, enhance user experience, and rank content. Unless you ask us not to or you opted out, we may contact you via email in the future to tell you about new content, your membership status, changes to this privacy policy, and other company news. You can unsubscribe from our emails at any time.
Our Goals
PatentPlus respects users’ rights to their data. All data is secured to the best of our ability and most frequently used to enhance user experience and manage memberships. In broadest terms, we will use your information to make enhancements to the site and will not share any individually identifiable information with any third parties outside our organization.
Information We Collect
We may collect personally identifiable information about you such as your full name, email address, and site participation linked to your account. For our staff to fulfill paid functionality such as membership newsletters, there is some mandatory information that PatentPlus will need to provide requested services. Information is most frequently gathered through our “Contact” or “Sign-up” form, but may also be gathered from information provided in person or through customer support.
our contributed content, including comments on articles, is more passively gathered on our content management system. User behavior is collected from third party statistics providers, including but not limited to Google Analytics. Emails are predominately managed through G Suite and our CRM System Hubspot (https://www.hubspot.com/). Additionally we use Hotjar (https://www.hotjar.com/) which utilize a script that creates a new level of ease for website owners to understand the usability of their websites. Website owners who use Hotjar Services can watch a censored DVR-like video playback of user sessions on their website, enabling meaningful insight into their users' experience, as an effective way to identify usability problems and other areas for improvement. For more information on the privacy practices of Hotjar, please visit the Privacy Terms web page: https://www.hotjar.com/privacy/. Also we use CI/CD tools including third-party service providers to automate the development process of our service. E.g., GitHub which is provided by GitHub, Inc. GitHub is a development platform to host and review code, manage projects, and build software. For more information on what data GitHub collects for what purpose and how the protection of the data is ensured, please visit GitHub Privacy Policy page: https://help.github.com/en/articles/github-privacy-statement. GitLab CI/CD is provided by GitLab, Inc.GitLab CI (Continuous Integration) service is a part of GitLab that build and test the software whenever developer pushes code to application.GitLab CD (Continuous Deployment) is a software service that places the changes of every code in the production which results in every day deployment of production.For more information on what data GitLab CI/CD collects for what purpose and how the protection of the data is ensured, please visit GitLab CI/CD Privacy Policy page: https://about.gitlab.com/privacy/.
How We Use Your Information
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Personally identifiable information: We use data such as users’ email addresses for administrative purposes such as customer service, membership maintenance, newsletters, and notifications. Further, we use your data to track membership trends, analyze user preferences, improve service and web functionality, and highlight popular content.
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Non-personally identifiable information: PatentPlus may use statistics from the aggregate data of our users for promotional purposes.
Information Storage
Your information may be stored and processed in Germany or any other country in which PatentPlus or its subsidiaries, affiliates, or service providers maintain facilities. Information is stored in our trusted host sites. We take precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline.
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Online: Wherever we collect sensitive information (such as credit card data), that information is encrypted and transmitted to us in a secure way. We want to make sure that you’re protected and we strive to be transparent about al the data we may store on an individual.You can verify the site’s security by looking for a lock icon in the address bar and looking for “https” at the beginning of the address of the Web page.
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Offline: While we use encryption to protect sensitive information transmitted online, we also protect your information offline. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, billing or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information.
Information Protections
If you log in as a free or paid member on the site, an anonymous tracking number may be assigned to your behavior before and/or after logging in so that PatentPlus can use Google Analytics to see which services or pages are most valuable to our members. That number is different than your member account number and site login and does not allow Google to individually identity you; however, your IP address could conceivably allow individual users to be identified. Your account information will be maintained in a separate database and is not sent to Google Analytics or other third party analysis partners.
Third Parties
Personally identifiable information: PatentPlus will not share or sell identifiable information except in the course of necessary business. The course of business will include necessary tasks and partners. For example, our banks will use the address information you provide in the context of processing credit card payments. Information may also be disclosed as required by applicable law, response to legal processes, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of PatentPlus.
Data Breaches
A data breach is the unauthorized acquisition or use of sensitive personal information such as a Social Security Number, driver’s license number, and financial information, that creates a substantial risk of identity theft or fraud. In case of a serious data breach, PatentPlus will notify the respective mandated supervisory authorities.
Links
This website may contain links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of any other site that collects personally identifiable information. For email storage, PatentPlus works in accordance with the privacy policy established by G Suite and Hubspot.
Mandatory Data
Different levels of membership may require different amounts of information in order to use this website and receive the services requested. During registration a user is required to give certain information (such as name and email address). This information is primarily used to contact you about site content. All mandatory fields are marked on every online form and will be communicated when applicable in person. Unmarked fields, while not required, are helpful in pursuing your interests and improving your overall experience with PatentPlus.
Cookies
We use “cookies” and marketing analytics tools on this site. A cookie is a piece of data stored on a site visitor’s hard drive to help us improve your access to our site and identify repeat visitors to our site. Cookies can store information like your login credentials so that you can stay logged in. Cookies can also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance their experience on our site.
Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information on our site. Further, in placing ads on PatentPlus, third party advertising partners, including Google, may also place and read cookies on your browser or use web beacons to collect information. Google uses what they call a “DoubleClick DART” cookie to serve ads based on your visit to this site and other sites on the Internet so they can show you advertisements related to your interests. You may specifically opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy.
User Rights
Some of the data rights for our clients and users include a right to be informed about how PatentPlus is using your personal data, a right to access what information we have stored about you, a right to have your data rectified, and a right to object to how your data is being used.
Right To Be Forgotten
Some data may be omitted or stricken from our records upon user request, or removed from public view, but some may be retained for business operations and historic record. Names of readers who suggest story ideas or topics or forward newsletter ads will not be used without permission. Users can also request removal of their past comments on topics, though there is no guarantee that we can or will remove all traces of such comments. Publicly posted comments or posts by PatentPlus members are kept in perpetuity and remain publicly viewable unless the individual requests removal, and such requests will be considered on a case by case basis. Even if we remove individual comments or posts from our websites, they may still persist online in other forms (cached files of search engines, RSS feeds, etc.), and other users may have screenshots and records stored externally and outside of the control of Patent Plus.
You Can
We respect your privacy rights and will provide reasonable access to the Personal Data that we have gathered. You can contact PatentPlus at any time to:
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Request access to the information that PatentPlus has about you
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Correct any information that PatentPlus has on you
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Opt out of our email services
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Modify the amount of emails received.
Limitation of Liability
The PatentPlus platform has been developed with the utmost care and to the best of our knowledge and belief. However, PatentPlus makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the data displayed, including but not limited to the accuracy or completeness of the information, facts and / or opinions contained therein. The platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help customers understand technologies / patents and provides AI-generated text. PatentPlus is not liable for the accuracy or reliability of this content and assumes no responsibility for the consequences of copying this content from the platform. Customers should carefully read, understand and review any AI-generated text before using it for any purpose. AI-generated text on the Platform is visibly marked as such and is based on the original patent text. PatentPlus, its directors and employees shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, including but not limited to loss of data, profits or business interruption arising out of the use or inability to use the Platform or the material available on it.
Contact Information
If you have any additional questions about PatentPlus's data collection and storage of data, you can contact us through the online contact form or by fax, post, phone, or email via info@patentplus.io
PatentPlus IO UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
Rosenthaler Str. 72A
10119 Berlin
Germany
Mail: info@patentplus.io
Phone: +49 176 392 15993