Privacy Policy

FAL Patents Pty Ltd (ACN 611 629 059) and FAL Lawyers (ABN 85 275 937 113) (We, our, us) respects and values the personal information of the persons that we deal with  We are committed to protecting your privacy and complying with the  Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and have adopted the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). Visit www.oaic.gov.au for further information. The APPs govern the way in which we collect, use, disclosure, store, secure and dispose of your Personal Information. 

In addition to our obligations under the Privacy Act, as legal practitioners we have strict professional obligations to our clients and the courts, including obligations of confidentiality. Also, our clients will often have legal professional privilege over records and communications in connection with our services.

This Privacy Policy tells you how we  collect, use, disclose, secure and store your personal information.

1.    What is Personal Information? 

Personal information means any information or opinion, whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable. In general terms, this includes information or an opinion that personally identifies you either directly (e.g. your name) or indirectly.

‘Sensitive Information’ is a subset of personal information and is defined in the Privacy Act to include information or opinion about such things as an individual's racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious or philosophical beliefs, membership of a trade union or other professional body, criminal record or health information.

We will only use sensitive information:
•    for the primary purpose for which it was obtained
•    for a secondary purpose that is directly related to the primary purpose
•    with your consent; or where required or authorised by law.

2.    What personal information do we collect?

We collect your personal information for the primary purpose of providing our legal and intellectual property services to you, for providing you with information and for marketing purposes. Additionally, we may collect personal information from you during your interactions with us including your use of our website and any related services. 

We may also use your Personal Information for secondary purposes closely related to the primary purpose, in circumstances where you would reasonably expect such use or disclosure. You may unsubscribe from our mailing and or marketing lists at any time by contacting us in writing. 

The nature of the personal information we collect, and hold will vary depending on how you interact with us. In this regard we may collect information such as:
•    your name, address and other contact details (e.g. address, email address, phone number),
•    your identity (such as date of birth, country of birth, passport details, and drivers licence), 
•    your personal circumstances (such as name, age, gender, occupation),
•    where you are a client, information about your organisation and your legal matters,
•    your employment and professional qualifications if you apply for a role with us,
•    credit card and other financial and payment information (for example bank account details, business and financial interests), and
•    technical information, such as information collected from your visits to our website including cookies.

Where possible we will collect personal information from you directly during the course of our relationship with you, however where it is not reasonable or practical to collect information directly from you we may collect it from other sources, including your employer, other colleagues and government registers. 

3.    How do we collect personal information?

We collect personal information in a variety of ways, including:
•    through becoming a client of ours, 
•    through completed forms you provide us in various formats (such as through our websites),
•    correspondence with us, 
•    interviews if you apply for a role with us,
•    if you attend an event hosted by us, 
•    phone and email,
•    our websites generally (such as through cookies or google analytics),
•    via our social media channels, email newsletters, publications and other online updates,
•    other publicly available sources. 

Please note we are not responsible for any links to third-party websites, the content of those third-party websites or the practices of those third-parties.

4.    How do we use or disclose personal information?

We collect, use and disclose personal information for the following purposes: 
1.    to provide you with legal or intellectual property services; 
2.    to obtain the services of any third party providers as part of providing the legal or intellectual property services; 
3.    to provide you with communications from us including marketing materials, newsletters, and invites to events and seminars; 
4.    to manage and improve our client relationships and our legal and intellectual property services; 
5.    where we are required or authorised to do so by law; or otherwise 

5.    How do we manage and secure personal information?

We have implemented appropriate steps to help maintain the security of our information systems and processes to prevent the accidental destruction, modification, loss or unauthorised disclosure of personal information that we store. 

We will retain your personal information only for as long as we require it for our purposes or as permitted or required by the Privacy Law. When we no longer require it, we will take all necessary steps to permanently delete, destroy or de-identify it.

6.    How can you access or correct your personal information?

Under the Privacy Act, you have the right to obtain access to any personal information which we hold about you, and to advise of any inaccuracy, if it is out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.

If you request access to or correction of personal information, we will require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require. We may charge a fee to cover our reasonable costs of  verifying your application and locating, retrieving, reviewing and copying any personal information requested. If we agree to correct the personal information, we will do it as soon as practicable and if there is a delay, we will advise you in writing. If we refuse access, if permitted by law, we will provide you with a written notice which sets out the reasons for the refusal and how you can complain about our refusal. 

Due to our professional obligations we may not be able to confirm that we hold information about any person or that we act for a particular client. 

To make a request to access or update any of personal information we hold about you, please contact our Privacy Officer at: Privacy Officer
FAL Lawyers 
Level 45
600 Bourke Street 
Melbourne, Victoria 3000
Phone: (03) 9642 2252 
Email: enquiries@fal-lawyers.com.au.

8. Policy Updates

 We reserve the right to update this Privacy Policy from time to time, and any update to this Privacy Policy will be published on our website.

9. What can you do if you have a question or complaint?

If you would like further information about the way we manage Personal Information, or wish to complain, please contact our Privacy Officer using the details above and we will investigate the issue. You will be notified of a decision about your complaint as soon as practicable after it has been made.

You can also obtain further information regarding compliance with the Privacy Act at www.oaic.gov.au