Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Information We Collect or Use

PatentCafe.com, Inc. is the sole owner of the information collected on all Websites in its intellecttual property network (hereinafter referred to as “site”). We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others in ways different from what is disclosed in this statement.

On occasion, you may find sections of this Website which require registration prior to access. Depending on what services or features you request, we may require specific personal and contact information. This information is used to provide you with enhanced features and services, and if necessary, to contact you only regarding:

• verification and authentication of requests by website owners for adding to our directory listings,
• delivery of our e-mail newsletters, or promotional materials from our partners, which you may have elected to receive,
• for authentication for access to sections of our websites that require LOGIN or password access.

Additionally, we adhere to the following:

• To ensure our compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), which limits our collection of information from children under 13 years old, registration to certain sections may also require the date of birth to verify that the user is at least 13 years old.
• It is optional for the user to provide demographic information (such as interests, income level, company position, and gender), and unique identifiers (such as state or country of residence), but is encouraged so we can personalize your experience on this site.
• We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.
• For your convenience, many sections of our site allow you to e-mail a copy of our page to your friend or associate. Using this feature requires you to enter your friend’s e-mail address so that we may deliver the Web page. The e-mail address you enter is used one time only, and only to send the page you requested.

Ordering Products or Services From Us TOP

When our order forms ask you to enter sensitive information (such as credit card number and/or social security number), that information is encrypted and is protected with the best encryption software in the industry – SSL. While on a secure page, such as our order form, the lock icon on the bottom of Web Browsers such as Microsoft® Internet Explorer® and Netscape® Navigator® becomes locked, as opposed to unlocked, or open, when you are just ‘surfing’. If you prefer to not submit private information over the Internet, you always have the option of placing orders by regular mail or by phone using the contact information on the ordering page.

Sharing Information With Third Parties TOP

We will share aggregated demographic information with our partners and advertisers. This is not linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person.

For certain products or services offered by or through our sites, we rely on our partner / supplier to establish separate billing on occasion, and to ship orders or deliver a service directly to you. When you sign up for these services, we will share only your name and contact information that is absolutely necessary for the third party to provide these services to you. These companies do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes, and are not allowed to use personally identifiable information except for the purpose of providing these services.

On certain sections of the site, we collect e-mail addresses you provide to us in response to your informed request to receive promotional or informational offers related to your special interests from third parties. E-mail addresses provided to us for promotional offers will be made available to the providers of those products or services.

This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that PatentCafe.com is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Web site.

Security TOP

While we use SSL encryption to protect sensitive information online, we also do everything in our power to protect user-information off-line. All of our users’ information, not just the sensitive information mentioned above, is restricted in our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, our billing clerk or a customer service representative) are granted access to personally identifiable information. Our employees must use password access to LOGIN to our company network. Furthermore, ALL employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices. Every quarter, as well as any time new policies are added, our employees are notified and/or reminded about the importance we place on privacy, and what they can do to ensure our customers’ information is protected. Finally, the servers that we store personally identifiable information on are kept in a secure environment, behind a locked cage.

If you have any questions about the security at our website, you can send a message to Webmaster.

Receiving Unsolicited Information TOP

Because PatentCafe is an informational resource for invention-related news, information and services, inventors occasionally mistake PatentCafe for an invention promotion company. We are not, and there is nothing we can do with any unsolicited information about any invention that you may send to us. In order to protect your confidentiality, we handle unsolicited invention information in the following manner:

• We make every attempt to identify unsolicited invention submissions sent by mail or courier prior to opening it. If it appears to be invention information, we do not open it.
• Opened and unopened invention submissions will be destroyed, and no copies will be made: submissions on paper will be shredded, submissions via e-mail will be deleted. We will not notify you of destruction of this information, nor will we respond to your unsolicited submission except as outlined in the following return policy.
• We will not return any delivered packages to you unless it is so marked by you, and then only if you agree to pay for return postage.

Cookies TOP

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user’s hard drive containing information about the user. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information while on our site. Once the user closes their browser, the cookie simply terminates. For instance, by setting a cookie on our site, you would not have to log in a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site. If you reject the cookie, you may still use our sites, but some important features you may want to use will be disabled. For example, you would not be able to set up your customized article files on our PatentCafe Magazine, would not be able to use our patent attorney search history or other reporting systems you may desire access to, and your use of the shopping cart system would restrict you to ordering not more than one product during a session.

Some of our business partners or suppliers of banner ads on our site use cookies (e.g.: third party shopping carts, document management services, chat rooms and message boards, legal fees RFP system, and contests). However, we have no access to or control over these cookies, nor to the information associated with those cookies.

You may read more information on cookies at www.cookiecentral.com

Correcting or Updating Personal Information TOP

If your personally identifiable information changes (such as your zip code, e-mail address, password), or if you no longer desire our service, we will endeavor to provide a way to correct, update or remove your personal data provided to us. This can usually be done at your member information page if you have registered through a personal account management section, or by e-mailing our Customer Support

Opting Out TOP

You have the opportunity to have your personal contact information removed from our site and related databases. Upon requesting to Opt Out, we will delete your contact information, as well as any data that you may have supplied during registration for certain customized features on our site. Upon requesting to have your data removed from our databases, you will lose access to those features you have selected (for example, your customized MyMagazine, message board access, or client tracking features on our site will be stopped.)

You may have elected to receive our e-mail newsletters or promotional messages from our sponsors or advertisers. If at any time you change your mind about receiving our newsletters or promotional mailings, simply click on opt-out or un-subscribe instructions included at the end of the e-mail you receive.

Children’s PrivacyTOP

Consistent with our commitment to ensure Kids’ Safety, PatentCafe.com. will follow these policies:

• To ensure our compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), which limits our collection of information from children under 13 years old, registration to certain sections may require the date of birth to verify that the user is at least 13 years old.
• On occasion, students will send PatentCafe.com. an e-mail request for research assistance regarding invention or innovation. We respond those requests by providing URL links directing the student to the appropriate section(s) of this site where their information may be found. We do not verify the age of the student requesting such information, and use their online contact information (e-mail address) only one time, and only for the purpose of responding to that particular research request. The message and e-mail request is deleted once we respond to the student.
• Requests by e-mail received by students that cannot be answered by directing the student to particular sections within this site will be deleted without response.
• Except for the e-mail address needed for responding to research requests or ordering products sold on this site, we will NOT collect online contact information from a user under 13 without prior verifiable parental consent as outlined in our COPPA compliance. Parents will have an opportunity to prevent their children from ordering products through this site by simply not providing their credit card number, thereby preventing us from collecting any contact information associated with the children’s order.
• We will not collect personally identifiable off-line contact information from users under 13 without prior verifiable parental consent.
• We do not distribute to third parties any personally identifiable information collected from a child under 13 without prior verifiable parental consent.
• We will not entice a child under 13 by the prospect of a special game, prize or other activity, to divulge more information than is needed to participate in such activity.
• We will also place prominent notice wherever personally identifiable information is collected requesting the child to ask a parent for permission to proceed.

Special notices to Parents:

• We use IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track user’s movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information of children under 13 years old.
• Certain sections of this site allow your child to set their Browser to accept cookies. For instance, if your child wants to establish a personal file in the PatentCafe Magazine to save articles related to inventing in the classroom (MyMagazine feature), they will need to activate a cookie so that MyMagazine will know to display the file when your child logs on. However, cookies tell us nothing about your child personally unless you or your child specifically give us additional information.
• Some of our business partners or suppliers of banner ads on our site use cookies (e.g.: third party shopping carts, suppliers of products of interest to children, and contests). However, we have no access to or control over these cookies, nor to the information associated with those cookies.
• Although this site contains information specifically compiled to be enjoyable and of educational benefit to your child, it also includes areas which are not directed toward children. Please monitor your child’s use of other areas of the Web site which are not directed toward children.

Parents can choose to discontinue their child’s receipt of any online communication from us by Opting Out of any contact database.

COPPA TOP

PatentCafe is committed to Kid’s Safety. We therefore comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA). COPPA and its accompanying FTC regulation establish United States federal law that protects the privacy of children using the Internet. Our special policies regarding compliance with this law include:

• Science and educational books and materials may be sold to children under 13. The parent must provide a credit card number for verification that he/she is an adult. Upon verification, we will collect such e-mail, mailing address and similar information necessary to deliver the purchased products to the purchaser.
• Sections of this site may contain links to personal Web pages of children under 13 years old, however those links are to web pages that reside on the server of a bona fide school or educational facility which is maintained by that school’s faculty or service provider. We rely on the school’s adult faculty to maintain child online safety standards under COPPA and school policy.
• We do not distribute to third parties any personally identifiable information collected from children under 13 except as previously described here.
• We use a technology called “cookies” as described in the previous section of this policy. We also use these cookies to check the age of registered users who attempt to enter chat rooms on this site. Users under 13 are not permitted in chat rooms.

PatentCafe.com., Inc. is the only company that collects or maintains children’s personal information through this site. Any questions regarding this policy may be directed to the company.

How To Contact PatentCafe.com., Inc. TOP

If you feel that PatentCafe.com., Inc. is not abiding by its posted privacy policy, you should first contact our Webmaster or Customer Support.

Alternatively, you may communicate with either of these contacts at the following:

PatentCafe.com., Inc.
441 Colusa Avenue, Suite D
Yuba City, CA 95991
Telephone: 530-671-0200
Fax: 530-671-0201