Objective of our Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy is designed to help our users understand what information we collect, why we collect it, and how you can manage, export, and delete your information. It covers both this website generally and our trademark intake, filing, and matter management system specifically.
Who we are
Our website address is: https://shaffan.org. We are a Law Practice registered in the Republic of Maldives (Registration Number: SP10502020).
Trademark Intake, Matters, and Client Portal
If you submit a trademark intake form, upload supporting documents, or use our client portal, we collect and process the following categories of information.
What we collect
- Contact and business information: your name, email address, phone number, company or entity name, industry or type of business, and website URL.
- Trademark information: the proposed mark, its type (word, slogan, logo, or combined), the Nice Classification(s) it falls under, a description of the goods or services associated with it, the elements the mark consists of, associated colors or fonts, the intended message or image the mark conveys, whether there are variant versions or materials for different products or services, and whether there is a distinctive sound or associated slogan.
- Existing trademark and prior search information: whether you already own any trademarks, whether you have conducted a prior search, what that search found, and how similar any results are to the proposed mark. This is kept separate from the conflict-of-interest information below, since it serves a different purpose (assessing registrability risk, not our own conflicts).
- Ownership information: the type of legal entity that owns or will own the mark (individual, corporation, LLC, partnership, or other), the owner’s registered and current address, country of origin, the names and contact details of any additional owners and their percentage of ownership, how decisions about the mark are made within the ownership structure, whether the mark is intended to be transferable, what documentation can verify ownership, and the name and title of anyone authorized to sign documents on the applicant’s behalf.
- Priority and prior use information: whether priority is claimed based on an earlier filing in another country, the date the mark was first used (if already in use) or the planned launch date (if not), and details of any registrations you hold in other jurisdictions.
- Conflict-of-interest and litigation information: details of any other individuals, companies, or brands connected to the matter, any known conflicts or similar existing marks you are aware of, whether the mark has been involved in a legal dispute, opposition, cancellation, or cease-and-desist, and whether it has been handled by another attorney or agent before.
- Regulated industry information: whether the mark is used in an industry that may require additional regulatory approvals, such as pharmaceuticals, alcohol, or financial services.
- Uploaded documents: specimens of use, powers of attorney, evidence supporting a priority claim, an image of the mark (for logo or combined marks), and any other supporting evidence you provide.
- Terms and notice acceptance records: whether you accepted our Terms of Engagement and which version, and which version of our data collection notice was shown to you at the time of submission.
Why we collect it
We collect this information to screen for conflicts of interest before accepting a matter, to prepare and file a trademark application on your behalf, and to manage the resulting matter throughout its lifecycle, including docketing deadlines, renewals, and any assignments or changes in ownership.
Who this is shared with
As part of filing and prosecuting a trademark application, the relevant information is shared with the Maldives Intellectual Property Office (MIPO) and, where applicable, other national or regional intellectual property offices. Once a trademark application is filed and published, certain information about it (such as the mark itself, the applicant’s name, and the classes and goods or services claimed) ordinarily becomes part of a public register maintained by the relevant office. This is an inherent feature of the trademark registration process rather than something we choose to disclose beyond what registration itself requires.
Client portal
If we create client portal access for you, we create a WordPress user account using your name and email address. This account has no administrative access to our website, only to your own trademark matters, documents, and deadlines. Portal login uses standard WordPress session cookies (see Cookies, below) and a secure password-set link is emailed to you when your account is first created.
Automated reminders
If a deadline is approaching on one of your matters, we may send you an automated email reminder. You do not need to take any action to opt into these reminders; they are sent as part of managing your matter.
Comments
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.
An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.
Media
If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website. This does not apply to documents uploaded through the trademark intake system, which are stored in a protected location and are not publicly accessible.
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.
If you visit our login page or the client portal, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, whether to the main site or the client portal, we also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.
These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.
Who we share your data with
If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.
If you submit a trademark intake, your information is shared with the Maldives Intellectual Property Office and, where relevant, other intellectual property offices, as described under Trademark Intake, Matters, and Client Portal, above.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing purposes.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.
For users that register on our website, we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time, except they cannot change their username. Website administrators can also see and edit that information.
For trademark intake and matter information, we retain your information for as long as we act for you, and afterward for the period required by applicable law and our professional obligations as a legal practice [retention period to be confirmed and inserted here]. Where an intake does not proceed to a matter, for example because it does not clear our conflict-of-interest review, we retain a record of that decision for our own compliance purposes even where we do not proceed to hold the full intake indefinitely.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site, have submitted a trademark intake, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we correct or erase any personal data we hold about you, and you can object to or request that we restrict our processing of it. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, professional, or security purposes, including retention obligations that apply to us as a legal practice.
If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with its own data protection authority, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with that authority.
Where your data is sent
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Amendments to this Privacy Policy
We may amend this Privacy Policy from time to time, in line with any changes to regulatory requirements or to the services we offer, including our trademark intake system.
For any comments or feedback regarding our privacy policy, please contact: [email protected]