Privacy Policy

Privacy policy

Purpose

This notice explains Lincoln IP Limited’s (“Lincoln IP”) approach to the personal information we handle in carrying out our duties as a professional firm of patent and trade mark attorneys.

Our commitment

Lincoln IP is fully committed to handling personal information in accordance with data protection legislation and best data protection practices. This means that your personal information will be:

  1. Processed lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent manner.
  2. Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes.
  3. Only collected so far as required for our lawful purposes.
  4. As accurate and up to date as possible.
  5. Retained for a reasonable period of time, in accordance with retention policies.
  6. Processed in a manner which ensures an appropriate level of security.

Whether through this notice or otherwise, we hope to ensure that everyone has a good understanding of why Lincoln IP processes personal information and, where we do, the rights they may have.

Why does Lincoln IP need to process personal information?

Lincoln IP is a professional firm of patent and trade mark attorneys regulated by the Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPREG). Our core business involves provision of advice to our clients regarding all aspects of their intellectual property. In particular, we assist our clients in securing and enforcing patents, trade marks and designs. Personal information is therefore required to be processed by Lincoln IP in order to allow us to deliver our core business services.

As explained in this notice, there are various ways in which Lincoln IP must process personal data to allow us to fulfil our role.

How does Lincoln IP collect personal information?

Like most organisations that handle personal information, there are various ways in which Lincoln IP collects information from the people we deal with. These include:

  • Email and written correspondence;
  • Telephone discussions;
  • Visitors to the Lincoln IP website;
  • Social media;
  • Application forms and other information requests;
  • Direct contact at our offices or elsewhere; and
  • Referrals from third parties e.g. solicitors.

In nearly all instances, it should be obvious to you that Lincoln IP is collecting your personal data.

What personal information does Lincoln IP collect?

Lincoln IP collects personal information to fulfil its role as a professional firm of patent and trade mark attorneys. As there are many different aspects to this role, the information requested and collected will vary from person to person.

The personal information most commonly collected from clients is as follows:

  • Contact details – names, home and business addresses, phone numbers, email addresses;
  • Financial details – employment details, bank details;
  • Open data and public records;
  • Documentary data – passport, drivers licence;
  • Information that is automatically collected e.g. via cookies when you visit our websites; and
  • Copies of physical and electronic correspondence.

Throughout this privacy policy notice we will refer to these type and category names when we talk about the ways that this information may be collected (i.e. via our website or as a result of you instructing us), used (i.e. in order to provide you with requested services), stored and transferred (i.e. providing foreign attorneys with inventor details for the purposes of filing patent applications in other jurisdictions):

  • Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, nationality, date of birth and gender;
  • Contact Data includes billing address, in the case of inventors, home address or ‘care of’ delivery addresses (this may be the inventor’s employer address), alternative postal delivery address, email address, telephone numbers and fax numbers;
  • Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details; and
  • Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of services you have purchased from us.

What is the lawful basis for Lincoln IP’s processing activities?

Lincoln IP will only process personal information where we believe we have a lawful basis to do so. The basis for processing will vary from activity to activity. In some instances, processing may have more than one lawful basis. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

  1. Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you (where you are our direct client);
  2. Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests;
  3. Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.
Purpose/ activity Data type Lawful basis
To register you as a new client Identity
Contact
Financial

Where you are not our direct client-
Necessary for our legitimate interests e.g. to provide services in a lawful manner 

Where you are our client-
Performance of a contract with you
To file and maintain registrations relating to intellectual property Identity
Contact

Where you are not our direct client-
Necessary for our legitimate interests e.g. to provide services in a lawful manner 

Where you are our client-
Performance of a contract with you
To conduct legal proceedings on the instructions of our client Identity
Contact

Where you are not our direct client-
Necessary for our legitimate interests e.g. to provide services in a lawful manner 

Where you are our client-
Performance of a contract with you
To deal with complaints or proceedings against us Identity
Contact
Transaction		 Transaction
Necessary for our legitimate interests e.g. to defend our legitimate interests
To administer and protect our business and provide our services Identity
Contact
Financial		 Financial Necessary for our legitimate interests

Does Lincoln IP share personal data with third parties?

Some of the processing activities set out above require Lincoln IP to share personal information with third parties. Whenever we share personal data, we take all reasonable steps to ensure it will be handled appropriately and securely by the third party.

The following is a list of the main third parties with whom Lincoln IP shares personal information:

  • Intellectual Property Offices;
  • The Courts;
  • Third party IP service provides e.g. foreign attorneys, search providers;
  • Other third party service providers e.g. translators and draughtsmen;
  • Other parties connected with a deal or litigation (and their professional advisors);
  • Other providers of professional services/advisers engaged by you e.g. where there is a transfer of cases;
  • Professional Indemnity insurer;
  • Service providers acting as processors who provide IT and system administration services;
  • HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based in the United Kingdom;
  • Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors, debt collectors and insurers based in the United Kingdom who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accountancy services; and
  • Directories.

For practical reasons, this is an indicative, but not exhaustive list. Please also note that the list may be updated from time to time.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law.

We do not allow third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

International transfers

We engage with some external third parties who are based outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) and their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer to data outside of the EEA.

Whenever we transfer your personal data outside of the EEA, we ensure that a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

  1. We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission. For further details, see “Adequacy of the protection of personal data in non-EU countries”
  2. Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe. For further details, see “Model contracts for the transfer of personal data to third countries”
  3. Where we use providers based in the US, we may transfer data to them if they are part of the Privacy Shield which requires them to provide similar protection to personal data shared between the Europe and the US. For further details, see EU-US Privacy Shield

The safeguard we use will depend on the location of the recipient, the function they are performing and the type of data being transferred.

Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.

How long does Lincoln IP retain personal information?

The periods for which Lincoln IP retains personal information depend on the purpose for which the information was obtained but, in general terms, we will retain personal data for so long as required by law, or as may be required for record keeping, accounting and legal claims purposes. In this regard, Lincoln IP follows the guidelines issued by the Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg).

Where does Lincoln IP store personal information?

Personal information is mostly processed by Lincoln IP’s staff at our offices in the UK. To allow us to operate efficient digital processes, we sometimes need to store information in servers located within the UK.

Your rights where Lincoln IP is processing your information

The law in the UK gives certain rights to individuals whose information is being processed by a third party. The following is a quick summary of these rights:

  • Access to your information – you have the right to request a copy of the personal information about you that Lincoln IP holds;
  • Correcting your information – Lincoln IP wants to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete, and up to date, and so you may ask Lincoln IP to correct any personal information about you that you believe does not meet these standards;
  • Deletion of your information – You have the right to ask Lincoln IP to delete personal information about you where:
    1. You consider that Lincoln IP no longer requires the information for the purposes for which it was obtained
    2. You have validly objected to Lincoln IP’s use of your personal information – see ‘objecting to how we may use your information’ below.
    3. Lincoln IP’s use of your personal information is contrary to law or Lincoln IP’s other legal obligations.
  • Objecting to how we may use your information – you have the right at any time to require Lincoln IP to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes. In addition, where Lincoln IP uses your personal information to perform tasks carried out in the public interest, or in exercising official authority vested in it then, if you ask us to, Lincoln IP will stop using that personal information unless there are overriding legitimate grounds to continue;
  • Request the transfer of your personal information – in some cases, you may ask Lincoln IP to provide you, or a third party you have selected, with your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine readable format. This right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for Lincoln IP to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you; and
  • Restricting how we may use your information – in some cases, you may ask Lincoln IP to restrict how we use your personal information. This right might apply, for example, where we are checking the accuracy of personal information about you that we hold, or assessing the validity of any objection you have made to Lincoln IP’s use of your information. The right might also apply if Lincoln IP no longer has a basis for using your personal information, but you don’t want Lincoln IP to delete the data. Where this right is validly exercised, Lincoln IP may only use the relevant personal information with your consent, for legal claims, or where there are other public interest grounds to do so.

Please contact Lincoln IP in any of the ways set out in the “contact information and further advice” section if you wish to exercise any of these rights.

You will not normally have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In these circumstances, we will notify you and keep you updated.

Changes to our privacy policy

Lincoln IP keeps this notice under regular review and will place any updates on this website. Paper copies of the privacy statement may also be obtained by e-mailing info@lincoln-ip.com or in writing to our office at 4 Rubislaw Place, Aberdeen, AB10 1XN.

This privacy statement was last updated on 30 May 2018.

Contact information and further advice

If you have any questions which are not covered in this notice, we suggest that you email us through info@lincoln-ip.com. To help us deal with your query as quickly as possible, we recommend that you include the following in the email subject “FAO Data Protection Officer”. If you would prefer to submit your questions in writing, please write to our office at 4 Rubislaw Place, Aberdeen, AB10 1XN, addressing your letter to the Data Protection Officer.

Complaints

While Lincoln IP seeks to resolve directly all complaints about how we handle personal information, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office, whose contact details are as follows:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone – 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate)

Website – https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/