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Privacy Policy
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This policy tells you about how we use and protect your personal information.
Summary - This summary provides the key concepts of the full i4e Privacy Policy and applies to the www.i4e.com website (the "Site") and services.
Collection
- When you register or enter information on our Site, we collect your personal information.
- We may combine the information you provide with information from other companies and i4e entities.
- We use cookies and other technology to keep track of your online interaction with our Site.
Use
- We use the information to provide the requested services.
- We use the information to personalize the Site for you, to communicate with you, and to offer you special i4e promotions.
- We use the information to help enforce our terms and conditions, to prevent fraud, and to keep the Site safer than before.
Disclosure
- We disclose your information to facilitate your interaction and transactions on the Site.
- We occasionally provide information to other companies who work on our behalf to help provide our services.
- We share limited information with other users to facilitate the identification of specialists that might assist them with their projects.
- We share limited information with law enforcement and others to help keep the community safe.
Choices
- To access, review, and change your personal information, go to your account page.
Contact us
You may contact us at:
i4e, LLC
Attn: Legal - Privacy Office
1763 Fountain Drive, Suite 105
Reston, VA 21090
Full Policy
Contents
- Scope
- Collection
- Marketing
- Use
- Our Disclosure of Your Information
- Activity Associated with User IDs
- Using Information from i4e
- Cookies
- No spam, spyware or spoofing
- Account Protection
- Accessing, Reviewing and Changing Your Personal Information
- Security
- Third Parties
- General
Scope
This privacy policy describes how we handle your personal information for our services available through www.i4e.com (the "Site") and applies generally to our subsidiaries and affiliate web sites. Our subsidiaries and affiliates privacy practices are similar to those described in this Privacy Policy. Subject to the requirements of applicable law, we strive to provide a consistent set of privacy practices throughout the i4e community. By accepting the Privacy Policy and the User Agreement in registration, you expressly consent to our collection, storage, use and disclosure of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy is effective upon acceptance for new users and is otherwise effective on January 1st, 2006.
Collection
You can browse the Site without telling us who you are or revealing any personal information about yourself. Once you give us your personal information, you are not anonymous to us. If you choose to provide us with personal information, you consent to the transfer and storage of that information to our servers located in the United States.
We may collect and store the following personal information:
- email address, name, personal information, physical contact information, and (depending on the service used) sometimes financial information, such as credit card or bank account numbers;
- transactional information based on your activities on the Site (such as negotiated equity, contribution to expenses on a project, and content you generate or that relates to your account or projects);
- billing and other information you provide;
- user profile content, experience, and background information;
- project content, discussions, chats, dispute resolution, correspondence through the Site, and correspondence sent to us;
- computer sign-on data, statistics on page views, traffic to and from the Site, and ad data: other information, including IP address and standard web log information; and
- supplemental information from third parties. (For example, if you incur a debt to i4e or submit a project or collaborate on a project, we may conduct a credit check or identity verification check by obtaining additional information about you from a credit bureau or the like, as permitted by law. As another example, if the information you provide cannot be verified, we may ask you to send us additional information (such as your driver license, credit card statement, and/or a recent utility bill or other information confirming your address), or to answer additional questions online to help verify your information.)
Marketing
We do not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent. We may combine your information with information we collect from other companies (such as demographic data) to improve and personalize our services. If you don't wish to receive marketing communications from us, simply indicate your preference once you sign-in on the i4e site, similar account status page, or by following the directions within an email.
The Site contains links to other websites, whether owned or controlled by i4e.com, i4e affiliates or unrelated third parties. Please note that the privacy policies of these sites may differ from those of i4e.com. i4e.com is not responsible for the privacy policies and practices of any linked website. We encourage you to read the privacy statement of any website you may visit.
Use
Our primary purpose in collecting personal information is to provide you with a safe, smooth, efficient, and customized experience. You agree that we may use your personal information to:
- provide the services and customer support you request;
- provide a network of professionals which can search a set of information provided by the user for use in collaborative efforts to develop and refine projects and inventions;
- administer the completion of forms and filings associated with the services provided by i4e;
- resolve disputes, collect fees, and troubleshoot problems;
- prevent potentially prohibited or illegal activities, and enforce our User Agreement;
- customize, measure, and improve our services and the Site's content and layout;
- tell you about targeted marketing, service updates, and promotional offers based on your communication preferences; and compare information for accuracy, and verify it with third parties.
- Our Disclosure of Your Information
- We may disclose personal information to respond to legal requirements (including patent filings and legal filings), enforce our policies, respond to claims that a listing or other content violates the rights of others, or protect anyone's rights, property, or safety.
- We may also share your personal information with:
- our affiliates to help detect and prevent potentially illegal acts and provide joint services;
- national and foreign patent filings offices or related governmental agencies as necessary for patent filing and related activities, and to any national or foreign tribunal as may be required for any claims related to the patents, projects or other related matters;
- service providers under contract who help with our business operations; (such as law firms or patent agents who prepare patent applications for i4e, fraud investigations, bill collection, affiliate and rewards programs, credit cards, and other related operations);
- other third parties to whom you explicitly ask us to send your information; (or about whom you are otherwise explicitly notified and consent to when using a specific service);
- law enforcement or other governmental officials, in response to a verified request relating to a criminal investigation or alleged illegal activity; (In such events we will disclose name, city, state, telephone number, email address, User ID history, fraud complaints, and history.); and
- other business entities, should we plan to merge with, or be acquired by that business entity. (Should such a combination occur, the new combined entity will notify you about any change in this privacy policy.)
Without limiting the above, in an effort to respect your privacy and our ability to keep the community free from bad actors, we will not generally disclose your personal information to law enforcement, or other third parties without a subpoena, court order or substantially similar legal procedure, except when we believe in good faith that the disclosure of information is desirable to prevent imminent physical harm or financial loss or to report suspected illegal activity.
Activity Associated with User IDs
Your User ID is displayed throughout the Site and is therefore available to the public. All of your activities on the Site will be traceable to your User ID. Other people can see your projects, activities, feedback, ratings and associated comments, and so on. Notices are sent to other community users regarding suspicious activity and policy violations on the Site and refer to User IDs and specific items. Therefore, if you associate your name with your User ID, the people to whom you have revealed your name to will be able to personally identify your i4e activities.
Using Information from i4e
Our Site enables you to share personal information in order to complete projects and transactions. We encourage you to disclose your privacy practices and respect the privacy of other users. We cannot guarantee the privacy or security of your information when interacting with other i4e members and therefore we encourage you to evaluate the policies of your project leader and other project members before entering into a project and choosing to share your information. To help protect your privacy, we allow only limited access to other users' background and other information in order to facilitate your collaborative efforts and transactions. When users are involved in a project and related transactions, they may have access to each other's name, User ID, email address, and other contact information.
You agree to use user information only for:
- Furthering or completing i4e projects and related transaction purposes.
- Using services offered through i4e (e.g. membership, projects, IdeaService, and the like).
Cookies and Web Beacons
We use "cookies" (small files placed on your hard drive) on certain pages of the Site to help analyze our web page flow, customize our services, measure promotional effectiveness, and promote trust and safety.
Most cookies are "session cookies," meaning that they are automatically deleted from your hard drive once you end your session (that is, log out or close your browser).
i4e may use cookies on certain pages of the Site to:
- Allow you to enter your password less frequently during a session.
- Provide information that is targeted to your interests.
- Promote and enforce trust and safety.
- Offer certain features that are only available through the use of cookies.
- Measure promotional effectiveness.
- Analyze our web page flow.
A few additional important things you should know about cookies are that:
- We offer certain features that are only available through the use of cookies.
- We use cookies to help identify you and maintain your signed-in status.
- You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, although doing so may interfere with your use of the Site.
- You may encounter cookies from third parties on certain pages of the Site that we do not control. (For example, if you view a web page created by another user, there may be a "cookie" placed by that web page.)
What are Web beacons?
A Web beacon is an electronic image, called a single-pixel (1 x1) or clear GIF placed in the web page code.
i4e uses Web beacons for many of the same purposes as we use cookies. We also use Web beacons to track the traffic patterns of users from one page to another in order to maximize our site traffic patterns.
How i4e works with third parties about your information
i4e may use third parties to facilitate or outsource one or more aspects of the business, product and service operations that we provide to you. These third parties are subject to various legal restrictions that prohibit their use of the information we provide them for any other purpose except to facilitate the specific outsourced i4e related operation.
Generally, i4e does not permit any third parties we work with to collect personal information through the use of cookies or Web beacons. We regularly check to confirm that third parties we work with do not collect any personal information in ads via cookies or Web beacons. If you detect a cookie or Web beacon served by a third party that collects personal information, please report it to spam@i4e.com
Cookies on i4e's discussion boards and forums
Our software for i4e's discussion boards and forums uses session cookies to facilitate conversation threads and overall service functions.
How i4e keeps your information secure
Your information is stored and processed on computers located in the United States. i4e uses procedural and technical safeguards, including firewalls, encryption, and Secure Socket Layers to protect your personal information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access and disclosure. We employ many different security techniques to safeguard such data from unauthorized access by users inside and outside the company.
Your choices about cookies
We offer certain features that are only available through the use of a "cookie". You are always free to decline our cookies if your browser permits, although in that case you may not be able to use certain features on the Site and you may be required to reenter your password more frequently during a session.
No spam, spyware or spoofing
We and our users do not tolerate spam. You are not licensed to add other i4e users to your mail list (email or physical mail) without their express consent. To report i4e related spam emails to i4e, please forward the email to spam(at)i4e(dot)com. You may not use our communication tools to send spam or otherwise send content that would violate our User Agreement. We may filter and automatically scan messages before they are sent for viruses and other illegal or prohibited content but do not permanently store email messages sent through these tools. If you send an email to an email address that is not registered in our community (via Refer a Friend or other tool), we do not permanently store that email or use that email address for any marketing purpose. We do not rent or sell these email addresses.
Account Protection
Your password is the key to your account. Use unique numbers, letters, and special characters and do not disclose your i4e password to anyone. If you do share your password or your personal information with others, remember that you are responsible for all actions taken in the name of your account. If you lose control of your password, you may lose substantial control over your personal information and may be subject to legally binding actions taken on your behalf. Therefore, if your password has been compromised for any reason, you must immediately notify i4e and change your password.
Accessing, Reviewing and Changing Your Personal Information
You can see, review and change most of your personal information by logging into the Site. Generally, we will not manually modify your personal information because it is very difficult to verify your identity remotely. You must promptly update your personal information if it changes or is inaccurate. Once you make a public posting, you may not be able to change or remove it. Upon your request, we will close your account and remove your personal information from view as soon as reasonably possible, based on your account activity and in accordance with applicable law. We do retain personal information from closed accounts in order to complete the patenting, marketing and licensing activities, comply with law, prevent fraud, collect any fees owed, resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our i4e User Agreement, and take other actions otherwise contemplated by the i4e services or permitted by law.
Security
Your information is stored on our servers located in the United States. We treat data as an asset that must be protected and use lots of tools (encryption, passwords, physical security, etc.) to protect your personal information against unauthorized access and disclosure. However, as you probably know, third parties may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications, and other users may abuse or misuse your personal information that they collect from the Site. Therefore, although we work very hard to protect your privacy, we do not promise, and you should not expect, that your personal information or private communications will always remain private.
Third Parties
Except as otherwise expressly included in this Privacy Policy, this document addresses only the use and disclosure of information we collect from you. If you disclose your information to others, whether they are project leaders, other project members, i4e site members, or experts on our Site or other sites throughout the Internet, different rules may apply to their use or disclosure of the information you disclose to them. Since i4e does not control the privacy policies of third parties, you are subject to the privacy policies of those third parties. We encourage you to ask questions before you disclose your personal information to others.
No Guarantees
While this Privacy Policy expresses i4e.com's standards for maintenance of private data, i4e.com cannot guarantee that the standards will always be met. As a consequence, i4e disclaims any warranties or representations relating to maintenance or nondisclosure of private information.
General
We may amend this Privacy Policy at any time by posting the amended terms on the Site. All amended terms automatically take effect 30 days after they are initially posted on the Site. In addition, we will notify you in accordance with your Notification Preferences. If your questions are not answered online, you may write to us at: i4e, LLC Attn: Legal - Privacy Practices, 1763 Fountain Drive, Suite 105, Reston, VA 20190.
Appendix to the Privacy Policy
How third parties may have access to information you disclose to i4e
The following chart describes how we use your information and allow third parties access to the information you disclose to i4e.
i4e will not sell or rent your personal information to third parties for their marketing purposes, and will only disclose your information in accordance with our Privacy Policy or with your explicit consent. We do not share your personal information with advertisers.
Note: Columns, in the table below, with a “Yes” means the information may be available in accordance with restrictions outlined in the Privacy Policy.
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Type of Information |
Internal Service Providers |
Public View |
Members in a Project or Transaction |
Law Enforcement and Government Agencies |
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Contact Information |
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Full Name |
Yes |
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Yes |
Yes |
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User ID |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Email Address |
Yes |
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Yes |
Yes |
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Street Address |
Yes |
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Yes |
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State |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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City |
Yes |
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Yes |
Yes |
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Zip Code |
Yes |
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Yes |
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Phone Number |
Yes |
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Yes |
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Country |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Company |
Yes |
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Yes |
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Technology Background |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Area of Interest |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Age Range |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Education |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Preferred Activity |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Household Income |
Yes |
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Secondary Phone |
Yes |
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Yes |
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Gender |
Yes |
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FAXes |
Yes |
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Yes |
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How Did You Hear? |
Yes |
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Miscellaneous Marketing Questions |
Yes |
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Personal or Business |
Yes |
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Personal Correspondence |
Yes |
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Financial Information |
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Credit Card Number(s) |
Yes |
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Expiration Date |
Yes |
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Billing Address |
Yes |
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Bank Account Number |
Yes |
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Social Security Number |
Yes |
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Deposit Account Number |
Yes |
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Billing Account History |
Yes |
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Patent and Assignment Required Information |
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Name |
Yes |
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Yes |
Yes |
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Street Address |
Yes |
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Yes |
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City |
Yes |
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Yes |
Yes |
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State |
Yes |
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Yes |
Yes |
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Zip |
Yes |
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Signature |
Yes |
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Yes |
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Project Information |
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Project Contribution |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Other Projects working on |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Feedback about User |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Project History of a User |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Equity Earned and contributions made for Projects |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Feedback Rating |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Chat Room/Bulletin Board |
Yes |
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Yes |
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Computer Generated Data |
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IP Address |
Yes |
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Cookie |
Yes |
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Browser Type |
Yes |
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Pages Viewed |
Yes |
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URL of Next Web Site |
Yes |
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URL of Last Web Site |
Yes |
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Operating System |
Yes |
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Hour of Day |
Yes |
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Domain Type |
Yes |
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Service Provider |
Yes |
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Miscellaneous |
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Fraud Form |
Yes |
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Yes |
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Third Party Data |
Yes |
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Secret Question and Answer |
Yes |
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