We, AFD IP Group (AFD China Intellectual Property Law Office & Beijing BHTD Law Firm), give great importance to the safety and protection of personal information and privacy (hereinafter referred to as “personal data”), abide by the relevant laws and regulations, and do our best to provide such protection.
This Statement is to help you understand our privacy protection policy, including our collection, storage, use, processing and protection of personal data as required by existing laws, regulations and the best practices of the industry. We present this policy document on our website or provide a link in our email correspondence, and we reserve the rights update it from time to time and will indicate the date of update to remind you that our privacy statement has been amended. This statement sets forth our privacy protection policy in a concise and clear manner, and any content not detailed herein shall be construed and interpreted in combination with our legal notice, cookie policy, and relevant laws, regulations and industry requirements.
Please carefully read this statement and our legal notices, cookie policy and other relevant content before using our services, starting any specific business, browsing our website and using application we provided, or submitting any personal data to us. When you use our services, websites, applications, or submit personal data to us, you are deemed to have read, understood and agreed to this policy and its updated versions, and agree that we collect, store, use, process and protect your personal data in accordance with the terms of this policy.
All personal data you provide is part of your personal data that you agree to be collected by us for the purposes stated in this privacy policy. Unless specifically requested or for a contract, business cooperation or job application, etc., please do not send us any personal data other than those as stated in the scope of this privacy policy.
Legal basis we rely upon to process your personal data
Laws and regulations allow organizations to collect and process personal data under the principles of legality, propriety and necessity. The specific circumstances may include the following:
Contractual obligations
We may need to collect and process your personal data to fulfill the services we provide to you and other agreed matters and related business procedures, including non-specific business-based communication. For example, when we provide you with our services, process your job application, internship application and access requests, we will require or directly record your personal data, such as your identity, contact information, and related supporting documentations.
Legal compliance
We may need to collect and process your personal data to fulfill our legal obligations, including complying with applicable laws and regulations, administrative requirements, court decrees, public interests, etc..
Legitimate interests
Without prejudice to your rights, freedoms or interests, the law allows us to collect and use your personal data to secure business development and achieve business objectives. For example, we may need to collect and use your personal data to confirm your identity, send a service satisfactory survey for the development and improvement of our services, provide our information and the industry’s latest development, discuss business cooperation, and issue notifications and/or invitations for related activities, etc..
Your consent
We collect and process your personal data after obtaining your consent. You have the right to withdraw the consent at any time. Please see the corresponding paragraph below for our contact information. When you provide your personal data to us, it is deemed to be your consent to our collection and use of such data.
If you have any doubts about the above, please contact us.
Personal data that we collect
Depending on your relationship with us (for example, you are a client, other concerned party, cooperating agency, media, labor service provider, or other person related to our business and operation, and their representative or designated contact, etc.) , your information that we collect and process includes but are not limited to:
Contact information: such as your name, the company/organization you work for, your title, address, e-mail address, personal or corporate website, phone number, fax number, and your relationship with other people, company or agency, etc.;
Identity information: such as identification numbers issued by government departments or agencies, including identity cards, passports, social insurance information, job or professional qualifications, organization code of the company/organization you work for, tax identification code, etc.; in exceptional cases, we may further collect information related to your personal data; for example, we may collect your business/credit information and litigation records for the completion of due diligence, and we will collect your education background, past work experience and other information during the recruitment process;
Financial and account information: such as detailed information about your expense/transaction records, bank accounts, payment cards and tax accounts with respect to your use of our services;
Technical information: such as the information we collect when you visit our website and applications; please see our cookie policy for details;
Preferences and feedback: your overall feedback on our services, your preference for case handling manners, your preference for marketing content, and your subscription to our publications, etc.;
Other information: information generated and/or learned during providing services to you, such as details of your case, the recording of discussion about your case, or travel plans and dietary requirements provided by you for attending our activities and visiting our offices;
Information collected from third parties: according to the applicable law, we may collect information about you from third parties (such as your delegated or authorized representative, agent, previous agency, corporate website or social media). We may use this information in combination with the information we have obtained that is relevant to you to help achieve the purpose described in this statement.
Special information
In general, we do not collect the following special information about you: gender, blood type, marital status, physical health, religious beliefs, political opinions, etc...
If required for special reasons, we will collect and use such information after having obtained your consent.
Information protection for minors
We value and strive to protect the privacy of minors (under 18 years of age) and do not intend to collect personal data about minors. Except with the consent of the legal guardians, the minors themselves or others shall not provide us with personal data about the minors.
Exceptions where your consent or authorization is not needed
Pursuant to relevant laws and regulations, under the following circumstances, our collection of your personal data does not need your consent or authorization:
1. your personal data relate to national security, national defense security, public safety, public health, and compelling public interests;
2. your personal data are required by administrative and judicial departments for investigations, prosecutions, trials and enforcement of judgments;
3. your personal data are needed for the protection of your or other person’s life, property and other important legitimate rights and interests, but it is difficult to get your consent;
4. The personal data collected have been made available to the public or may be collected from information lawfully and publicly disclosed;
5. Other circumstances prescribed by laws and regulations.
How we use your personal data
We will use your personal data based on the purposes stated in this. In addition, we may disclose all or part of your personal data to the following entities:
Disclosure for service purposes: we may disclose your personal data to government departments, financial institutions and transport companies or postal administrations which are involved in our services and specific business. Meantime, if the business involves other regions, we may share your personal data with local partners in order to provide complete and efficient services, and we require the partners to protect the confidentiality of your personal data in the process of completing the cooperation.
Disclosure for other reasons: if the law requires or authorizes the disclosure of your personal data, or if we believe in good faith that the disclosure is in order to comply with the requirements of laws or legal procedures applicable to us, to meet the need of protecting and defending our rights and property, to meet emergency needs, or to meet the need of protecting the personal safety of any person, such disclosure may be made to appropriate entities.
Depending on the applicable law, we may anonymously process your personal data so that such data can no longer be used to identify you. Anonymous information does not belong to personal data and is therefore not subject to this policy. We also follow the principles of legitimacy, propriety and necessity when using, disclosing and sharing anonymous information for the purposes of, including but not limited to, research, analysis and marketing.
How we protect your personal data
We strive to protect and secure the personal data you provide to us by developing appropriate security policies and ensuring that these policies are fully enforced. To prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we not only implement relevant security control measures in technical aspect, but also invest in business procedures, physical environment management, and authority management to secure your personal data. Meantime, these measures and corresponding softwares and hardwares are also constantly monitored and maintained.
We restrict the access of our employees, cooperative agencies and other third parties to your personal data through appropriate security principles and internal rules.
How long we will keep your personal data
We take reasonable measures to ensure that the personal data that we collect and process are reliable relative to its intended use and are with necessary degree of accuracy and completeness to achieve the purpose stated in this statement. In accordance with relevant policies, accounting requirements and business development requirements, we will keep the information for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, except where laws and regulations allow it to be kept for a longer time.
You may request us to delete or anonymize your personal data in accordance with laws, regulations and relevant rules, without prejudice to the purposes stated in this statement.
Where your personal data are processed
To provide business services and achieve other purposes described in this statement, your personal data may be transferred, stored and processed within our Group. Transferring information within our Group is necessary for us to pursue our legitimate interests in a predictable manner, to comply with our own legal obligations and to fulfill our contractual obligations.
Our website and mail services are hosted by the servers of Alibaba in Mainland China. The personal data you provide to us will probably flow directly or indirectly through the Alibaba servers.
Links to third party websites
If you jump to a third-party website, plug-in or application from our website, clicking on such link or enabling these connections may allow a third party to collect or share information about you. If you visit any of the links to any third party website, please be aware of the respective privacy statements or policies of these platforms, and we do not assume any responsibility or obligation for their policies.
Relevant privacy policies that our partners shall comply with
Our partners refer to organizations that work with us globally to provide their local intellectual property consultations and services to our clients. We require all partners to provide full assurance and implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure that their collection and processing of our and our clients' personal data is only for the specific purpose expressly entrusted by our clients, and we also require all partners to ensure that they will keep such data confidential. Their obligations and efforts should not be less than the level required by their local laws and their requirements for management of their own confidential data.
Your rights
Access: You can inquire about and correct your personal data that we collect, store and use, and can change your preference for the industry progress and marketing content you receive.
Please make sure that the information we hold about you is accurate and effective, which can help us provide you with our services normally. If the information you provide to us has changed during the existence of your relationship with us, please notify us immediately. If we are not able to get in touch with you and/or we are not able to fulfill the purpose described in this statement because you fail to timely inform us of any change of the relevant information, we will not be liable to the disruption of the services because of your inaccurate information.
Objection: You may object in writing to our collection, storage or use of all or part of your personal data, for example, you may object to our collection of your certain information or object to our including you into the subscription list of our publications. However, if in some cases we can prove that there is a compelling legal reason for continuing to use and process your personal data, we will not be obligated to comply with your request.
Erasure: You may ask us in writing to erase your personal data in accordance with laws, regulations and relevant rules and without prejudice to the purposes stated in this statement.
Restrictions: In case you question the accuracy of your personal data, you may ask us in writing to use and process such data in a restrictive manner.
Data portability: In accordance with laws, regulations and relevant rules and without prejudice to the purpose stated in this statement, you may ask us in writing to move, copy or transmit your personal data from our system to you or to a third party of your choice (if technically feasible) without affecting its availability.
Consent: Your use of our services, websites and applications or your submission of personal data to us will be deemed as your consent to our collection, use and processing of your personal data. You may request in writing to withdraw your consent.
You can subscribe/unsubscribe in the way provided in our websites or publications. However, such withdrawal does not affect the legality of the previous collection, use and processing of your personal data.
We will promptly respond to any of your requests for the exercise of your rights within the time limits required by law. Before processing the request, we may take appropriate measures to verify your identity. If your request involves complicated operations, we may charge a fee for it if the law allows.
Contact us
If you have any questions or requests that are not covered in this statement, please send an email to us at info@afdip.com.
This Privacy Statement was last updated on 20 June 2018.
