Privacy Policy

Oblon is a well-respected firm of U.S. intellectual property attorneys, agents, and technical advisors.  Oblon may collect and retain your personal information in connection with providing our business services as explained below.

This Privacy Policy explains:

• what personal information we collect,
• when it is collected,
• from where it is collected,
• why we collect it and how it is used,
• whether it is shared with others,
• how we protect it and how long we retain it, and
• what rights you have to control your personal information in our possession. 

What personal information do we collect?

The information we collect from you may include:

• Identity and contact information.  We may collect personal information that you and others provide to us, including your name, occupation/title, company-related information, address/contact information.  We may also collect personal information regarding your entry to our premises when applicable for security purposes.
• Correspondence, presentations, advice, files, and other documents.  For purposes of providing legal advice and services and for billing purposes, we may maintain copies of correspondence and other documents that you provide us (electronic or paper), records of meetings and conversations, and other notes/memoranda related to our representation of you.
• Employment and background information.  If you are employed by us or are seeking employment with us, we may also collect information you provide regarding your education and work histories, skill sets, references, and proof of your entitlement to work in the U.S.  If necessary, this may include your Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number, your Passport information, and any other information required to demonstrate your entitlement to employment with us. 

The information collected for purposes of employment may include sensitive personal information you provide at your discretion regarding your race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, health, and any disabilities.  This information may be collected in order to meet government requirements related to equal employment opportunities or to provide employment accommodations under U.S. law.  If collected, this information will be treated confidentially.

• Website usage information and other computer-related information.  We may collect your personal information when you interact with our website, including your device information (e.g., hardware model, unique device identifier, operating system, and browser type), network used, IP address, geographical location, referral source (e.g., search engine or link from another website), which pages of our website you visit and for what amount of time, and any searches you perform on our website. 
• Marketing information.  We may collect personal information relating to your subscriptions to our marketing communications, social media content, legal updates, and blog postings, or your attendance at events sponsored by us or others.

When is your personal information collected?

Oblon may collect your personal information that you decide to provide to us, when:

• you provide us instructions or seek legal advice regarding our representation of you or your employer, or the possibility of our representation of you or your employer;
• you subscribe to our social media content, newsletters, legal updates, blogs, articles, and other mailing or emailing lists;
• you visit or meet with us, or correspond or otherwise communicate with us;
• you register for or attend our events;
• you network with us at an event;
• you provide or offer to provide us services or goods;
• you apply for employment and/or attend a job interview with us;
• you are the subject of advice being requested by a third party, or if you have indicated to a third party that you would like to contact us; and
• you make inquiries, or provide comments or complaints to us.

From where is your personal information collected?

Oblon may receive your personal information from other sources, such as:

• public sources, which may include publicly available records and/or filings with governmental agencies, e.g., patent offices or publicly available databases; and

• third parties, such as:
• business contacts of your or ours;
• your employer, e.g., if your employer is one of Oblon’s clients;
• recruiters or referrals, e.g., for purposes of consideration for employment;
• social media sources; and
• service providers, e.g., Google^® LLC, Mondaq Ltd., and Symantec^®. 

Why do we collect your personal information and how is it used?

Oblon may collect your personal information that you decide to provide to us, based upon your consent, if needed to provide legal advice and/or services for which we have been retained by you or by your employer, if needed to comply with legal or regulatory obligations, or if needed for our business interests or those of a third party.

We consider the potential impact on you when we use your personal information.  Our business interests do not automatically outweigh your personal interests.  We will not use your personal information if your interests outweigh our business interests, unless we have your consent to do so or if we are legally obligated to do so.

We may maintain a database of contact information, which we may use to notify you of changes to this Policy, to comply with legal obligations, or on the basis of our business interests.

If you or your employer are, were, or will become a client of Oblon, or inquire about our possible representation of you or your employer, we may rely on our business interests to promote our services to you or your employer based upon our prior interaction or your inquiry.

We may use cookies to assist you in optimizing your use of our website.  Cookies allow us to track your use of our website, including the pages you visit and for what amount of time.  If you do not want cookies used, you can change settings on your device to reject or clear cookies.  However, without cookies, you may not be able to use our website.  

For example, your website usage information and other computer-related information may be collected for website analytics by service providers on our behalf or by using cookies or similar technology. 

We may use your personal information for the following possible purposes:

• providing our professional services;
• relationship support, e.g., to manage our relationship with former, current, and potential clients, service providers, and job applicants; 
• marketing communications, e.g., our social media content, newsletters, legal updates, blogs, articles, and other mailing or emailing lists, to keep you informed of changes in U.S. law, developments related to intellectual property, or Oblon news, events, and services that we believe would be of interest to you, provided we have your permission to do so or consider it permissible in view of our business interests in keeping you informed.  You may opt-out or opt-in to receiving communications from our firm by selecting the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our communications or by email to Datacompliance@oblon.com.  If you opt-out or do not consent to receive marketing communications from Oblon, we may still provide you with nonmarketing communications, e.g., relating to our representation of you or your employer;
• employment, e.g., to process a your application for employment, although information you provide for employment purposes will not be used for marketing communications;
• website access, e.g., to facilitate or support your access to our website and to provide you with personalized content, or to assist our service providers in doing the same;
• processing your inquiries and feedback; and
• compliance with laws, regulations, policies, and procedures. 

Is your information shared with others?

Oblon may share your personal information with third parties:

• such as Patent, Trademark, and Copyright offices, e.g., to represent you or your employer in obtaining, maintaining, and enforcing intellectual property rights;
• such as local or foreign law firms and/or service providers, e.g., to assist us in obtaining, maintaining, and enforcing intellectual property protection for you or your employer;
• in order to comply with U.S. and other countries’ legal disclosure requirements imposed upon us with respect to your personal information in our possession, or if we reasonably believe that it is necessary to (i) comply with the law, legal process, and reasonable law enforcement requests, (ii) respond to requests from government authorities or agencies, (iii) enforce the terms of our representation of you or your employer, (iv) pursue available remedies or limit potential damages, (v) protect the security and integrity of our legal advice and services, or (vi) exercise or protect Oblon’s rights, privacy, and safety or that of our affiliates, clients, you, or your employer;
• such as service providers.  For example, we use Google Analytics™ for website analytics.  Google Analytics™ is a service provided by Google^® LLC, which is based in the U.S.  We also use Symantec^®, which is based in the U.S., to provide secure email communications and to protect us from malware.  These service providers may use your personal information on our behalf and in compliance with the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”); 
• such as marketing services.  For example, we use Mondaq Ltd., which is based in the U.K., for distribution of electronic communications including Oblon’s blog posts, articles, and/or newsletters.  These marketing services may use your personal information on our behalf and in compliance with the requirements of the GDPR; 
• other professional advisors, insurers, and/or regulators, e.g., to comply with our professional and/or legal obligations; and
• affiliates, e.g., our affiliate office in Tokyo, Japan, which may use your personal information for the same purposes described in this Policy. 

Otherwise, Oblon will not share your personal information with any other third parties without your consent unless otherwise required by law.

How do we protect your personal information and how long do we retain it?

Oblon applies technical, organizational, and software tools and resources to protect your personal information against accidental or unlawful destruction or dissemination. 

Oblon stores your personal information for no longer than necessary for the purposes set forth in this Policy and for compliance with our legal obligations. 

As an international firm, we have offices, providers and affiliates throughout the world.  Personal information that we collected from you, therefore, may be transferred and stored in countries other than your own.  Any such transfers are made according to appropriate safeguards.  If you wish to know more about these safeguards, please contact us using the contact information at the end of this Policy.

What rights do you have to control your personal information in our possession?

Residents of the European Economic Area (EEA). 

If you are a resident of the EEA or a citizen of one of its member countries, under European law you have the following rights with respect to your personal information in our possession:

• Right of access to obtain:
  • confirmation of whether and where we are processing your information;
  • information regarding the types of personal information we are processing, the purposes that we process it for, and how we determine for what length of time we retain it;
  • information regarding the categories of recipients with whom we share your personal information; and
  • a copy of your personal information in our possession.
• Right of portability to obtain a copy of your personal information in a common, machine readable format that can be reused, or to request that your personal information be transferred to another person.
• Right to correction of any inaccurate or incomplete personal information in our possession without unreasonable delay.
• Right to forget/withdraw consent, in certain circumstances, to require us to delete your personal information if its retention and processing is not otherwise justified.
• Right to limit our use, in certain circumstances, of your personal information if its processing is not otherwise justified.
• Right to raise objections to our processing and use of your personal information based upon our business interests when there are grounds relating to your specific circumstances.  There may be compelling reasons to process your personal information that we will assess and communicate to you if objections are raised.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact information at the end of this Policy.  You do not have to pay a fee to exercise these rights.

You also have the right to file a complaint with your local data protection authority.  Further information regarding this process can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm.

Residents and Citizens outside of the EEA

If you are a resident or citizen of a country outside the EEA, you may also have rights related to your personal information.  Please contact us using the contact information at the end of this Policy if you would like to exercise any of those rights, and we will comply with the request to the extent required by applicable law.

Is this Policy subject to change?

Oblon may update this Policy.  You should review this Policy periodically.  If we change this Policy in a significant way, we will update the “last modified” date at the end of this Policy.  Any changes to this Policy are effective upon the “last modified” date.

How can we contact you?

If Oblon needs to provide you information for legal, marketing, or other business purposes, we will choose what we believe is the best method to contact you.  Providing you with information does not prevent you from being able to opt-out of certain types of contact as described in this Policy.

How can you contact us?

You can contact us regarding this Policy or regarding your personal information by using the following information:

Email: Datacompliance@oblon.com

FAO:   Data Compliance Manager

Address:   Oblon, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt LLP, 1940 Duke Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314