privacy policy

1. WHAT IS THIS PRIVACY POLICY ABOUT?

PATERA-IP AG is a patent law firm based in Bubikon. As part of our business activities, we obtain and process personal data, in particular personal data about our clients, associated persons, counterparties, courts and authorities, correspondence law firms, professional and other associations, visitors to our website, participants in events, recipients of newsletters and other bodies or their contact persons and employees (hereinafter also referred to as ‘you’). We provide information about this data processing in this privacy policy.

If you disclose data to us about other persons (e.g. family members, representatives, counterparties or other associated persons), we assume that you are authorised to do so and that this data is correct and that you have ensured that these persons are informed about this disclosure, insofar as a legal obligation to provide information applies (e.g. by bringing this data protection declaration to their attention in advance).

2. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROCESSING YOUR DATA?

The data controller is responsible for the processing described in this privacy policy:

3. FOR WHAT PURPOSES DO WE PROCESS WHICH OF YOUR DATA?

When you use our services, utilise them or otherwise deal with us, we obtain and process various categories of your personal data. In principle, we may obtain and otherwise process this data for the following purposes in particular:

• Communication: We process personal data so that we can communicate with you and with third parties, such as parties to proceedings, courts or authorities, by e-mail, telephone, letter or otherwise (e.g. to answer enquiries, in the context of advice and representation as well as the initiation or execution of contracts). This also includes providing our clients, contractual partners and other interested parties with information about events, changes to the law, news about our law firm or similar. This may take the form of newsletters and other regular contact (electronically, by post, by telephone). You can reject such communication at any time or refuse or revoke your consent to such communication. For this purpose, we process in particular the content of the communication, your contact details and the marginal data of the communication.
• Initiation and conclusion of contracts: With regard to the conclusion of a contract, in particular a contract for the establishment of a client relationship, with you or your client or employer, which also includes the clarification of any conflicts of interest, we may in particular obtain your name, contact details, powers of attorney, declarations of consent, information about third parties (e.g. contact persons, family details and counterparties), contract contents, date of conclusion, creditworthiness data and all other data that you make available to us or that we collect from public sources or third parties (e.g. commercial register, credit agencies, sanction lists, media, legal expenses insurance companies or from the Internet).
• Administration and processing of contracts: We obtain and process personal data so that we can fulfil our contractual obligations towards our clients and other contractual partners (e.g. suppliers, service providers, law firms, project partners) and, in particular, provide and demand contractual services. This also includes data processing for client management (e.g. legal advice and representation of our clients before courts and authorities and correspondence) as well as data processing for the enforcement of contracts (debt collection, legal proceedings, etc.), accounting and public communication (if permitted). For this purpose, we process in particular the data that we receive or have collected as part of the initiation, conclusion and fulfilment of the contract as well as data that we create as part of our contractual services or that we collect from public sources or from other third parties (e.g. courts, authorities, counterparties, information services, media, detective agencies or from the Internet). This data may include, in particular, minutes of meetings and consultations, notes, internal and external correspondence, contractual documents, documents that we prepare and receive in the context of proceedings before courts and authorities (e.g. statements of claim, appeals and complaints, judgements and decisions), background information about you, counterparties or other persons as well as other mandate-related information, proof of performance, invoices and financial and payment information.
• Operation of our website: In order to operate our website securely and stably, we collect technical data such as IP address, information about the operating system and settings of your end device, the region, the time and type of use. We also use cookies and similar technologies. For more information, see section 8.
• Improvement of our electronic offers: In order to continuously improve our website and other electronic offerings, we collect data about your behaviour and preferences, for example by analysing how you navigate through our website and how you interact with our social media profiles.
• Registration: In order to use certain offers and services (e.g. newsletters), you must register. For this purpose, we process the data provided during the registration process. We may also collect personal data about you while you are using the offer or service; if necessary, we will provide you with further information about the processing of this data.
• Security purposes and access control: We obtain and process personal data in order to ensure and continuously improve the appropriate security of our IT and other infrastructure. This includes, for example, monitoring and controlling electronic access to our IT systems and physical access to our premises, analyses and tests of our IT infrastructures, system and error checks and the creation of backup copies.
• Compliance with laws, directives and recommendations from authorities and internal regulations: We obtain and process personal data to comply with applicable laws, self-regulation, certifications, industry standards, our corporate governance and for internal and external investigations in which we are a party.
• Risk management and corporate governance: We obtain and process personal data as part of risk management (e.g. to protect against criminal offences) and corporate management. This includes our business organisation (e.g. resource planning) and corporate development (e.g. acquisition and sale of business units or companies).
• Job application: If you apply for a job with us, we obtain and process the relevant data for the purpose of reviewing the application, carrying out the application process and, in the case of successful applications, for the preparation and conclusion of a corresponding contract. In addition to your contact details and the information from the corresponding communication, we also process the data contained in your application documents and the data that we can additionally obtain about you, e.g. from job-related social networks, the Internet, the media and from references, if you consent to us obtaining references. Data processing in connection with the employment relationship is the subject of a separate privacy policy.

4. WHERE DOES THE DATA COME FROM?

From you: You (or your end device) provide us with the majority of the data we process (e.g. in connection with our services, the use of our website and apps, or communication with us).

From third parties: We may also obtain data from publicly accessible sources (e.g. patent register, commercial register, media or the internet including social media) or receive such data from (i) public authorities, (ii) your employer or client who either has a business relationship with us or is otherwise involved with us, as well as from (iii) other third parties (e.g. clients, counterparties, associations, contractual partners, internet analysis services). This includes, in particular, the data that we process in the context of the initiation, conclusion and fulfilment of contracts as well as data from correspondence and discussions with third parties, but also all other categories of data.

5. TO WHOM DO WE DISCLOSE YOUR DATA?

In connection with the purposes listed in section 3, we transfer your personal data in particular to the categories of recipients listed below. If necessary, we will obtain your consent for this or have ourselves released from our professional duty of confidentiality.

• Service providers: We work with service providers in Switzerland and abroad who (i) process data on our behalf (e.g. IT providers), (ii) on our joint responsibility or (iii) on their own responsibility, which they have received from us or collected for us. (These service providers include, for example, IT providers, banks, other law firms or consulting firms). We generally agree contracts with these third parties on the use and protection of personal data.
• Clients and other contractual partners: This initially refers to clients and other contractual partners of ours for whom the transfer of your data arises from the contract (e.g. because you work for a contractual partner or they provide services for you). This category of recipients also includes organisations with which we cooperate, such as other patent law firms in Switzerland and abroad or legal expenses insurance companies. The recipients generally process the data under their own responsibility.
• Authorities and courts: We may disclose personal data to offices, courts and other authorities in Switzerland and abroad if this is necessary for the fulfilment of our contractual obligations and in particular for the performance of our mandate, or if we are legally obliged or entitled to do so or if this appears necessary to protect our interests. These recipients process the data under their own responsibility.
• Counterparties and persons involved: Insofar as this is necessary for the fulfilment of our contractual obligations, in particular for the management of the mandate, we also pass on your personal data to counterparties and other persons involved (e.g. affiliated companies, other law firms, persons providing information or experts, etc.).
• Other persons: This refers to other cases where the inclusion of third parties arises from the purposes set out in section 3. This concerns, for example, delivery recipients or payment recipients specified by you, third parties in the context of agency relationships (e.g. your lawyer or your bank) or persons involved in official or court proceedings. As part of our corporate development, we may sell or acquire businesses, parts of businesses, assets or companies or enter into partnerships, which may also result in the disclosure of data (including from you, e.g. as a client or supplier or as their representative) to the persons involved in these transactions. In the course of communication with our competitors, associations and other bodies, data relating to you may also be exchanged.

All these categories of recipients may in turn involve third parties, so that your data may also become accessible to them. We can restrict processing by certain third parties (e.g. IT providers), but not by other third parties (e.g. authorities, banks, etc.).

6. WILL YOUR PERSONAL DATA ALSO BE SENT ABROAD?

We process and store personal data mainly in Switzerland and the European Economic Area (EEA), but potentially in any country in the world. Your personal data may also be transferred to any country in the world as part of our activities for clients.

If a recipient is located in a country without adequate data protection, we contractually oblige the recipient to comply with an adequate level of data protection (we use the revised standard contractual clauses of the European Commission, which are available here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?, including the supplements required for Switzerland), unless the recipient is already subject to a legally recognised set of rules to ensure data protection. We may also disclose personal data to a country without adequate data protection without concluding a separate contract if we can rely on an exemption clause for this. An exception may apply in particular to legal proceedings abroad, but also in cases of overriding public interests or if the fulfilment of a contract that is in your interest requires such disclosure (e.g. if we disclose data to our correspondence offices), if you have given your consent or if it is not possible to obtain your consent within a reasonable period of time and the disclosure is necessary to protect your life, if we disclose data to our correspondence offices), if you have given your consent, or if it is not possible to obtain your consent within a reasonable period of time and the disclosure is necessary to protect your life or your physical integrity or that of a third party, or if it concerns data that you have made generally accessible and whose processing you have not objected to. We may also rely on the exception for data from a register provided for by law (e.g. HR), which we have authorised access to. We may also rely on the exception for data from a register provided for by law (e.g. HR), which we have legitimately obtained access to.

7. WHAT RIGHTS DO YOU HAVE?

You have certain rights in connection with our data processing. In accordance with applicable law, you may in particular request information about the processing of your personal data, have incorrect personal data corrected, request the erasure of personal data, object to data processing, request the disclosure of certain personal data in a commonly used electronic format or its transfer to other controllers.

If you wish to exercise your rights against us, please contact us; you will find our contact details in Section 2. In order to rule out misuse, we must identify you (e.g. with a copy of your ID, if necessary).

Please note that conditions, exceptions or restrictions apply to these rights (e.g. for the protection of third parties or business secrets or due to our professional duty of confidentiality). We reserve the right to black out copies for reasons of data protection or confidentiality or to supply only extracts.

8. HOW DO WE USE COOKIES, SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES AND SOCIAL MEDIA PLUG-INS ON OUR WEBSITE AND OTHER DIGITAL SERVICES?

When using our website (including newsletters and other digital offers), data is collected that is stored in logs (in particular technical data). We may also use cookies and similar technologies (e.g. pixel tags or fingerprints) to recognise website visitors, evaluate their behaviour and identify preferences. A cookie is a small file that is transmitted between the server and your system and enables a specific device or browser to be recognised.

You can set your browser so that it automatically rejects, accepts or deletes cookies. You can also deactivate or delete cookies in individual cases. You can find out how to manage cookies in your browser in the help menu of your browser.

Neither the technical data collected by us nor cookies generally contain any personal data. However, personal data that we or third-party providers commissioned by us store about you (e.g. if you have a user account with us or these providers) may be linked to the technical data or to the information stored in and obtained from cookies and thus possibly to your person.

We also use social media plug-ins, which are small pieces of software that establish a connection between your visit to our website and a third-party provider. The social media plug-in informs the third-party provider that you have visited our website and may send the third-party provider cookies that it has previously placed on your web browser. For more information on how these third-party providers use your personal data collected via their social media plug-ins, please refer to their respective privacy policies.

We also use our own tools and third-party services (which in turn may use cookies) on our website, in particular to improve the functionality or content of our website (e.g. integration of videos or maps), to compile statistics and to place adverts.

We may currently use offers from the following service providers and advertising partners in particular, whereby their contact details and further information on the individual data processing can be found in the respective privacy policy:

• Google Analytics
  Provider: Google Ireland
  Data protection information: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245
  Information for Google accounts: https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites?hl=en

Some of the third-party providers we use may be located outside Switzerland. Information on data disclosure abroad can be found in section 6. In terms of data protection law, some of them are ‘only’ processors on our behalf and some are controllers. Further information on this can be found in the data protection declarations.

9. HOW DO WE PROCESS PERSONAL DATA ON OUR SOCIAL NETWORK PAGES?

We operate pages and other online presences on social networks and other platforms operated by third parties and process data about you in this context. In doing so, we receive data from you (e.g. when you communicate with us or comment on our content) and from the platforms (e.g. statistics). The providers of the platforms can analyze your use and process this data together with other data that they have about you. They also process this data for their own purposes (e.g. marketing and market research purposes and to manage their platforms), and act as their own data controllers for this purpose. For further information on processing by the platform operators, please refer to the privacy policies of the respective platforms.

We currently intend to use the following platforms, whereby the identity and contact details of the platform operator can be found in the privacy policy:

• Facebook:
  www.facebook.com
  Privacy policy: www.facebook.com/privacy/policy
• Instagram:
  www.instagram.com
  Privacy policy: https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policy
• YouTube:
  www.youtube.com
  Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en
• LinkedIn:
  www.linkedin.com
  Privacy policy: https://linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy
• X:
  x.com
  Privacy policy: https://x.com/en/privacy

We are entitled, but not obliged, to check third-party content before or after its publication on our online presences, to delete content without notice and, if necessary, to report it to the provider of the platform in question.

Some of the platform operators may be located outside Switzerland. Information on data disclosure abroad can be found in section 6.

10. WHAT ELSE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED?

Please note that we will generally process your data for as long as required by our processing purposes (see section 3), the statutory retention periods and our legitimate interests, in particular for documentation and evidence purposes, or if storage is technically necessary (e.g. in the case of backups or document management systems). If there are no legal or contractual obligations or technical reasons to the contrary, we will generally delete or anonymize your data after the storage or processing period has expired as part of our normal processes and in accordance with our retention policy.

If you do not provide certain personal data, this may mean that it is not possible to provide the associated services or conclude a contract. As a matter of principle, we indicate where personal data requested by us is mandatory.

The right to object to the processing of your data set out in Section 7 applies in particular to data processing for the purpose of direct marketing.

If you do not agree with our handling of your rights or data protection, please let us know (see contact details in section 2). If you are located in the EEA, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the data protection supervisory authority in your country. A list of authorities in the EEA can be found here: https://www.edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/about-edpb/members_en.

11. CAN THIS PRIVACY POLICY BE AMENDED?

This privacy policy is not part of any contract with you. We may amend this privacy policy at any time. The version published on this website is the current version.