AVENTUM IP LAW LLP
PRIVACY POLICY
Aventum IP Law LLP (Aventum) is an intellectual property law firm with an international practice. At Aventum, we have a professional obligation to maintain the confidentiality of our clients’ information. In addition, we are committed to protecting the personal information of all individuals that is collected in our practice.
Aventum manages your personal information in compliance with all applicable provincial and federal legislation, including the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. By using our website, you consent to the collection, use, disclosure and retention of your information as outlined in this Policy.
1. Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information
We collect personal information for the purposes of serving the legal and related needs of our clients. We require personal information to:
- Provide information or professional services and answer inquiries;
- Perform conflict checks;
- Issue invoices;
- Maintain our database of clients, as required by the Law Society of Ontario and for our legitimate commercial interests;
- Process job applications submitted to us;
- Communicate with you about recent developments in the law, Aventum news, and invitations to firm events; and
- Manage our website.
We follow reasonable and prudent business practices to collect, use, retain and disclose your personal information and only do so in accordance with this Policy, or as required or permitted by law.
To enhance user experience in visiting our website, we may use standard tracking technologies including “cookies” to collect information about or stored on your computer. You may choose to opt-out of such information collection, for example by disabling cookies in your web browser, or contacting us by telephone.
We only collect information that is necessary for the purposes identified in this Policy, with your express or implied consent, or with your express consent for other purposes. Your consent is implied with respect to any voluntarily submitted information. We also assume that we have your consent to our collection and use of your personal information if you retain our firm.
For all or part of the above purposes, we may require services from third parties. In such instances, we may disclose to these third parties, on a confidential basis, limited personal information that is necessary for them to perform their specific functions with no right of using such disclosed information for any other purpose.
We will not trade, rent or sell any collected personal information without your prior consent.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, Aventum reserves the right to transfer any personal information in its possession in the event it sells or transfers all or a relevant part of its business or assets to a third party acquirer.
There are certain circumstances where we are required or permitted by law or our professional responsibilities to collect, use and disclose personal information without consent. We will handle all personal information confidentially and will substantiate the legal authority to collect, use and disclose personal information in these circumstances. In certain circumstances, we are permitted to disclose personal information without knowledge or consent upon the request of a government institution with requisite authority to enforce or administer a law of Canada or a province.
2. Protection of Personal Information
We use reasonable physical, technological, and organizational procedures, including our professional obligations, the use of technological and physical security measures, and restricted file access to personal information, to protect the confidentiality and security of your personal information against unauthorized access or unauthorized alteration, copy, disclosure or destruction of data.
In particular, we will:
- Not collect, use or disclose your personal information for any purpose other than those we identify to you or are reasonably evident;
- Only disclose your personal information to those persons who have a need to know your personal information;
- Keep your personal information only for as long as needed to fulfill its purposes, maintain appropriate records and protect our legitimate commercial interests;
- Maintain your personal information in as up-to-date a form as possible;
- Keep your personal information physically secure; and
- Maintain technological safeguards such as passwords or encryption.
We strongly encourage you to contact our professionals by secure means if you wish to provide confidential information, as no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be absolutely secure.
3. Updating Your Information
It is important that the personal information we have on file be accurate. We ask that you inform us in a timely manner should any of your personal information change during the course of your relationship with us.
You may withdraw your consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information, subject to exceptions provided by law. However, your withdrawal of consent to same may impact our ability to provide services to you.
4. Changes to This Policy
We reserve the right to change this Policy from time to time at our sole discretion and in compliance with applicable privacy law by posting a new or revised policy.
5. Requests for Access
Subject to exceptions provided by law, you are entitled to access your personal information that is in our possession and be informed of the existence, use and disclosure of such personal information. To make a request for access to your personal information, and amendments as appropriate, please contact our Privacy Officer. We will respond to access requests within thirty (30) days.
By law, we must deny access to your personal information when your file contains personal information on a third party and the information cannot be severed to maintain the privacy of the third party information, when a record containing personal information is subject to a claim of legal professional privilege by one of our clients, and when required or authorized by law. We have the right to deny access to your personal information and may do so in certain circumstances where:
- the information is protected by solicitor-client privilege;
- to do so would reveal confidential commercial information;
- to do so could reasonably be expected to threaten the life or security of another individual;
- the information was collected without knowledge or consent of the individual in circumstances where it was reasonable to expect that the collection with the knowledge or consent of the individual would compromise the availability or the accuracy of the information and the collection is reasonable for purposes related to investigating a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the laws of Canada or a province;
- the information was generated in the course of a formal dispute resolution process; or
- the information was created for the purpose of making a disclosure under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act or in the course of an investigation into a disclosure under that Act.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding our website practices or this Policy, or if you wish to access your personal information, please contact:
Chantal Bertoša
Privacy Officer
Aventum IP Law LLP
104-555 Legget Drive, Tower A
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2K 2X3
Phone: (613) 232-5300
Fax: (613) 563-9231
Aventum will respond to inquiries about its Privacy Policy and the handling of your personal information. Complaints will be investigated within thirty (30) days of receipt of a written inquiry, and Aventum will take appropriate measures to resolve a justified complaint.
If any complaint or inquiry is not handled to your satisfaction, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada may be contacted at:
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
30 Victoria Street
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 1H3
Tel: (800) 282-1376