We're lawyers, so of course we have a privacy page
Privacy Policy
Last Updated: November 16, 2020
This Privacy Policy informs you of important information about how Blueshift IP, LLP (“Blueshift IP,” “we,” “us” or “our”) process the Personal Information that we collect in online and offline formats through our Services (defined below).
Definitions
“Personal Information” means information and data that reasonably can be used to identify a living person, or that reasonably relate to a living person.
When we use the term “Services” we mean to refer collectively to:
- The provision of legal and related services (“Client Services“) to the individuals and businesses who retain us (“Clients“);
- The website and mobile application owned and controlled by us at blueshiftip.com that link to this Privacy Policy (“Site(s)”); and
- Our marketing and business development activities, including emails that we send, blogs we post, events we may host, and social media properties we create (“Marketing Activities”).
How We Collect and Use Personal Information
We may collect your Personal Information through different means, when you:
- decide to interact with us, either by providing us your information through the Contact Us page on the Site, by email, regular mail, or telephone;
- visit our Site, through automated data tracking technology;
- become a Client and provide us with information directly; or
- authorize third parties to provide us Personal Information.
It is up to you whether you want to provide us with information or authorize third parties to provide us with information. When we ask you to provide information, you can decline and still visit the Site to learn more about us and what we do. However, if you choose not to provide certain information to us, we may be unable to provide you our Services. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any third-party sites that may link to, or be accessible from, the Sites.
Types of Personal Information You May Provide to Us
The types of information you may provide to us, as a Client, include:
- Name, alias, physical address, email address, postal address, telephone numbers, communication preferences, unique personal or online identifier, account name, employer, job title;
- Payment or financial information;
- Information that you authorize third parties to release to us; and
- Records of your correspondence with us.
The majority of our Clients are corporate entities and data about entities is not Personal Information. But we do process Personal Information of company employees, representatives and other Personal Information Clients provide to us, or allow us to collect on their behalf, while providing the Client Services. This includes contact information and may include job title any other Personal Information that is relevant to or necessary for us to deliver the Client Services.
Types of Information We Collect Through Technology
When you use our Site, we use technology to gather information on how visitors are using the Site. Specifically, we use technology to gather information about the following:
- IP addresses
- Device
- Browser version
- Time zone
- Operating system and platform
- Referring/exit pages
- Account access date/time stamp
- Cookie data previously stored on your device
An IP address is a number automatically assigned to your computer whenever you access the Internet. IP addresses allow computers (including mobile devices and tablets) and servers to recognize and communicate with one another. We collect IP address information so that we can properly manage our system and gather information about how our Site is being used. This includes the device type and browser you are using, location data, the pages you are viewing and your interactions on the page. Your IP address may be associated with records containing Personal Information.
We collect details about visits to our Site, including the volume of traffic received, logs and the resources that you have accessed. (Please also see our “Cookies Notice“.)
How and Why We Use Your Personal Information
We only collect the information reasonably necessary to respond to inquiries about our Services, to provide you the Services, and for the other legitimate business purposes, under applicable laws, as provided below:
- To comply with legal obligations and professional responsibilities;
- To provide you with information about developments in the law;
- For our business development and general marketing;
- To provide you with information about our Services;
- To build and maintain a good working relationship with you;
- To provide you with notices about your matter, including expiration and renewal notices;
- To perform contracts;
- To improve the Site;
- To verify your identity or conduct internal audits or reviews;
- To enforce our Terms of Use and other agreements; and
- To detect or prevent security incidents or other illegal activity on our Site.
We do not monitor or profile visitors to our Site or collect, in any automated manner, any special categories of sensitive Personal Information about you. No automated decision-making, including profiling, is used when processing your Personal Information. Blueshift IP does not sell your information to any third party or other business.
How We Share and Disclose Personal Information
We may disclose aggregated information that does not identify any individual (and therefore, is not deemed to be Personal Information) without restriction. We may share and disclose Personal Information in the following ways:
To Provide our Services: Your Personal Information will only be shared with and processed by our affiliates and non-affiliated third-party service providers as permitted by law and for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy. We may disclose Personal Information to third parties in order to perform services on your behalf. Blueshift IP may disclose Personal Information to the following categories of third parties: Others involved in a matter on which Blueshift IP is working, including courts, lawyers, counterparties, experts, mediators, opponents, other attorneys, and witnesses; government authorities, including law enforcement, tax and regulatory agencies, and other governmental bodies; insurers and third-party legal services providers; and other service providers such as IT and telephony services, document production, and postal and delivery services.
Business Transfers: When applicable, we may share your information in connection with a merger, consolidation, or in the unlikely event of bankruptcy.
With Your Consent or at Your Direction: We may share information for any other purposes disclosed to you at the time we collect the information or pursuant to your consent or direction.
Other Legal Reasons: In addition, we may use or disclose your Personal Information as we deem necessary or appropriate: (1) under applicable law; (2) to respond to requests from public and government authorities including public and government authorities; (3) to pursue available remedies or limit damages we may sustain; and (5) to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of our firm, our affiliates, you, and our Clients.
Data Security
We use reasonable organizational, technical and administrative measures to maintain the privacy and security of your Personal Information within our firm. No data transmission or storage system, however, can be guaranteed to be secure at all times. Please note that email is considered a nonencrypted (and therefore nonsecure) form of communication, and it can be accessed and viewed by others without your knowledge and permission. For that reason, to protect your privacy, please do not use email to communicate information that you consider confidential. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with Blueshift IP is no longer secure, please immediately notify Blueshift IP in accordance with the “Contact Us” section below.
Transfers of Information Across Borders
Blueshift IP’s offices are in the United States. Therefore, all information you provide to us is stored and processed in the United States, which does not have data protection laws equivalent to those in force in the EEA.
Retention of Personal Information
We will retain your Personal Information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy and in order to provide you the Services, and for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you Services. We will also retain your information to comply with our legal obligations.
Capacity / Children
This Site is only intended for individuals who are at least 18 years of age. We do not knowingly encourage or solicit visitors to this Site who are under the age of 18. We are committed to complying with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Our Service is not directed to children under the age of 13 and children under the age of 13 are not to use the Site or provide any information to our Service without express parental or guardian consent. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of 13. If we receive Personal Information that we discover was provided by a child under the age of 13, we will promptly destroy such information.
Financial Information
In the course of providing Client Services to you or another client, we may ask you to provide financial information. Blueshift IP does not sell your information to any third party or other business. Blueshift IP uses payment processors to process online payments made to us. In connection with the processing of such payments, we do not retain any personally identifiable information or any financial information such as credit card numbers. Rather, all such information is submitted directly to our payment processor.
Email Marketing
We may periodically send you information and newsletters we think may be of interest to you by e-mail. To help improve our Marketing Activities, we often receive a confirmation when you open an e-mail or click on a link included in one of these emails, if your computer supports such capabilities. Instructions on how to unsubscribe from these alerts and newsletters are included in each e-mail.
Electronic Correspondence with Blueshift IP
Visitors to our Site may send email to us with information about your matter, and to subscribe to our blog updates. Sending us an email does not give rise to an attorney/client relationship. These messages are forwarded through the Site to the appropriate persons within Blueshift IP so that they may respond to the questions or comments or provide the information requested, if they elect to do so, which is at their discretion. In the event that we are requested to contact a visitor to this Site, contact information may also be used for purposes of making that communication. Any electronic communication between you and Blueshift IP before you become a Client will not be privileged or confidential; may be disclosed to other persons; and may not be secure. Therefore, you should not send any email to us that contains confidential or sensitive information. Further, all information submitted through the Site is the exclusive property of Blueshift IP.
Residents of the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland
If you are an individual resident of the EEA, UK, or Switzerland, your Personal Information will be treated in a secure and confidential manner in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, including the European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). You have choices in how your Personal Data is used and shared. You may have the right to:
- Update, access, correct and/or delete your Personal Information;
- Choose whether you wish to receive promotional and newsletter communications;
- Choose whether you wish to restrict processing of your Personal Data;
- Withdraw your consent, if you have given your consent to collect and process your Personal Data; and
- Complain to a data protection authority about the collection and use of your Personal Data.
- Deactivate your account and have certain personal information deleted.
In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your Personal Information that override your rights. If you are covered by GDPR or similar laws, to exercise your rights described above, please submit a verifiable request to us as provided in the section titled, “Contact Us”, below. Blueshift IP will respond to the request within 30 days.
Cookies Notice
What are cookies and why are cookies used: A cookie is a piece of data that a website can send to your browser, which may then be stored on your computer as a tag that identifies your computer. While cookies are often only used to measure website usage (such as number of visitors and duration of visit) and effectiveness (such as topics visitors are most interested in) and to allow for ease of navigation or use and, as such, are not associated with any Personal Information, they are also used at times to personalize a known visitor’s experience of a website by being associated with profile information or user preferences. Over time this information provides valuable insight to help improve the user experience.
How we use Cookies: We use cookies and related technologies (“Cookies”) to provide Services, gather information when users navigate through the Sites to enhance and personalize the experience, to understand usage patterns, and to improve our Sites, products, and Services.
Cookies on our Sites are generally divided into the following categories:
Necessary Cookies. These cookies are necessary to provide you with our Services and to use some of their features, such as access to secure areas. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the Services, you cannot refuse them without impacting how our Services function. These cookies do not collect identifying information about you, and they do not monitor or remember any of your internet browsing on sites other than Blueshift IP.
Non-necessary Cookies. These cookies allow us to provide you with a better experience when you use our Site. These cookies do not collect identifying information about you, and they do not monitor or remember any of your internet browsing on sites other than Blueshift IP.
Analytics and Customization Cookies. These cookies collect information that is used to help us understand how our Services are being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our Services for you to enhance your experience. This data is anonymous and only used for statistical purposes, analytics cookies do not collect or share any personally identifiable information. These cookies qualify as “third-party” cookies as they are not sent directly by Blueshift IP.
Targeting Cookies. These record your visit to our Sites, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed to recognize you as a previous visitor and to track your activity on the Sites and other Sites you visit. These Cookies qualify as persistent cookies, because they remain on your device for us to use during a next visit to our Sites. You can delete these cookies via your browser settings. See below for further details on how you can control third-party targeting cookies.
Google Analytics. This Site uses Google Analytics. Google Analytics uses cookies to help us to analyze how users use the Site. It counts the number of visitors and tells us things about their behavior in the aggregate. Google Analytics does not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may see how Google uses data when you use this Site at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners.
How to Control Cookies: You can review your Internet browser settings, typically under the sections “Help” or “Internet Options,” to exercise choices you have for certain Cookies. If you choose to block all cookies, you may not have access to our Site, our Services will not function as intended, and you will not be able to log in. If you have blocked all cookies and wish to make full use of the features and Services we offer, we recommend enabling at least first-party cookies. Rather than blocking all cookies, you can choose to block only third-party cookies. This will allow Blueshift IP Services to function as intended. To learn more about the use of Cookies by Google for analytics see https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies. To exercise choice regarding those Cookies, please see the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. The opt-outs described above are device- and browser-specific and may not work on all devices.
Links to Other Sites
Occasionally we may provide links to other websites for your convenience and information. These sites operate independently from our Sites and are not under our control. These sites may have their own privacy notices or terms of use, which you should review if you visit any sites linked through our Sites. We are not responsible for the content or use of these unrelated sites.
Updates to this Privacy Policy
Although most changes are likely to be minor, Blueshift IP may change its Privacy Policy from time to time, and at Blueshift IP’s sole discretion. Blueshift IP encourages visitors to check this page frequently for any changes to our Privacy Policy.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our Personal Information handling practices, please contact us at:
Name: Cynthia Gilbert
Address: 1 Broadway, 14th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02142
Email: management@blueshiftip.com
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