MenuGeneral terms and conditions
- De Vries & Metman is a partnership of private limited liability companies (besloten vennootschappen) under Dutch law. The partnership De Vries & Metman shall be understood in these general terms and conditions by the term “dV&Me”.
- These general terms and conditions apply to all assignments given by clients to dV&Me, to all assignments given by dV&Me to third parties, as well as to all legal relationships arising from or in connection therewith. These terms and conditions are also stipulated for the benefit of the partners and directors of dV&Me and all persons employed by dV&Me (hereinafter referred to as “persons affiliated with dV&Me”), as well as any third party appointed by dV&Me in connection with services provided by dV&Me or that may be liable in connection therewith, and any successors under universal title of the aforementioned persons. The applicability of general terms and conditions of the client are hereby expressly rejected.
- All assignments shall be considered supplied to and accepted by dV&Me, contrary to Articles 7:404 and 7:407(2) of the Dutch Civil Code, even if the intention is that these are performed by one or more persons affiliated with dV&Me. Contrary to Article 7:409 of the Dutch Civil Code, persons affiliated with dV&Me are not personally bound or liable and the assignment shall not end due to their death.
- dV&Me may call on third parties to carry out an assignment and dV&Me is authorised to accept conditions that apply to the relationship between the third party and dV&Me. dV&Me may enforce these conditions against the client insofar as this relates to the performance of the assignment by the third party. The client may not hold these third parties directly accountable. dV&Me shall exercise due care when engaging third parties. dV&Me shall not be liable, however, for any errors or shortcomings on the part of such third parties. The client shall indemnify dV&Me and the persons affiliated with dV&Me against all claims by third parties arising from or related to the performance of an assignment for the client.
- Unless expressly agreed otherwise, all assignments shall be performed on payment of the hourly rates of dV&Me prevailing at the time of the performance, multiplied by the hours worked, and reimbursement for specific services. The costs of third parties and office costs will be charged. The term of payment for invoices shall be 30 days from the date of the invoice. In the case of two or more clients, these are liable jointly and severally for the payment of the invoice. dV&Me must be notified in writing of any complaint regarding an invoice or the work to which it relates within 30 days of the date of the invoice concerned. Should no complaint be made within that period, the client shall be deemed to have accepted that the invoice is correct and that payment is due. In the absence of timely payment, dV&Me will be entitled to charge statutory interest without further notice and, at its option, to suspend further performance of the assignment or to declare the assignment as being dissolved without being liable for damages towards the client. The client is aware that by not starting or starting late, by suspending and/or by discontinuing the activities and by not or not completely performing the assignment through the fault of the client can lead to non-filing or not timely filing and/or loss of industrial property rights. dV&Me shall not be held liable for the above and the consequences thereof.
- Any liability on the part of dV&Me, arising from or related to the performance of an assignment, shall be limited to the amount paid out under the professional liability insurance policies taken out by dV&Me, plus the amount of any deductible (“own risk”) sum. Should no insurance payment be made and dV&Me is held liable despite the agreed limitation of liability with the client, any liability on the part of dV&Me is limited to the amount of the fee charged by dV&Me, in respect of the assignment concerned, subject to a maximum of € 50,000.00 per incident (a succession of related incidents to be considered as one incident). Any liability for indirect damage is excluded, such as loss of turnover and profit and loss of savings. Claims for damages will expire if they are not made in writing within one year of discovery thereof to dV&Me.
- The legal relationship between clients and dV&Me, as well as any claim for liability, shall be governed by Dutch law. All disputes arising from this legal relationship shall be exclusively submitted to the competent court in Amsterdam. In the event of a dispute, the Dutch text of these general terms and conditions shall prevail.
Privacy statement De Vries & Metman
This is the privacy statement of De Vries & Metman, located at Overschiestraat 180 in Amsterdam (hereinafter: “we”). This privacy statement applies to the processing of personal data of our clients, potential clients and other persons who visit our website or have contact with us.
This privacy statement explains how we handle personal data. For questions about the privacy statement or if you want to exercise your legal rights with regard to your personal data, or if you want to submit a complaint about the use of your personal data, please contact us.
If you are not satisfied with the handling of your complaint or if you prefer not to submit your complaint to us, you can also submit it to the Dutch Data Protection Authority, via the website autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl.
We are responsible for the processing of your personal data and we will do so with the greatest possible care and, of course, comply with the rules arising from the legislation.
Which personal data do we process?
Handling of and advising on patent cases
When you provide us with an order, we process the personal data that you and the other party(ies) to your case provide to us. These are in any case your contact details such as your name, address, email address and telephone number. It also concerns personal data that are relevant to the file. Depending on the case, this may also concern sensitive and/or special personal data.
Billing
We also process data necessary for sending invoices and processing payments for the services provided by us, such as your bank account number and any other payment details.
Contact
If you contact us by email or by telephone, we process the data you provide, such as your contact details (name, email address, telephone number) and the reason why you are contacting us (for example because you have a question).
Analysis of visitors to our website
Finally, we process analytical data about (the computer of) visitors to our website, via cookies that are placed when you visit the website. Through these cookies (part of) the visitor’s IP address is stored.
For what purposes and on what basis do we process personal data?
Handling of and advising on patent cases
We use the personal data that you have provided in the context of handling of a patent case. Because it is possible that sensitive and/or special personal data are processed during the handling process (and this is not always clear in advance), we ask you for permission to process your personal data. You give this permission by signing the order agreement. If you do not give this permission, you will unfortunately not be able to use our services, because we cannot perform the services without processing personal data that are relevant to the file.
You have the right to withdraw your consent. We are then no longer allowed to process your data and can no longer provide you with our services, so that the file will be closed immediately.
Billing
We use the payment information you have provided to invoice services. This processing is necessary to execute the agreement you conclude with us.
Contact
We use the contact details you provide to us to contact you if necessary, for example to answer a question or to confirm an appointment. We process these personal data because these are necessary for the performance of our services and for obtaining new orders.
Analysis of website visitors
The data we collect about the visitors to the website are only used to keep statistics about the visit to the website (for example, to see which pages are viewed the most). The data are stored anonymously.
How long do we keep your personal data?
Patent file
In principle, we keep the patent file and the personal data contained therein for twenty years after the file has been closed, in connection with the maximum statutory limitation period.
Administration
Other contact details
We keep other contact details for two years after the last contact, unless you request us to delete it sooner.
Analysis of website visitors
The data about website visitors are stored for two years after the visit to the website; these are the standard settings of Google Analytics.
With whom do we share your data?
Your data are stored in a digital file and can appear in e-mails that we send or receive, and are therefore stored (and, thus, processed) by our ICT provider. Furthermore, the payment details that you have provided to us for the purpose of billing will be passed on to the party that carries out our financial administration. We have entered into a processing agreement with this party in which at least the same level of security and confidentiality is regulated as you may expect from us.
We do not provide your data to third parties, unless we are obliged by applicable laws and regulations to provide certain data, for example to the police in the context of a criminal investigation.
How are your data secured?
We have taken appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your personal data against loss, misuse and unauthorized access by third parties. In addition, we also oblige our ICT provider to take such appropriate technical and organizational security measures.
What are your rights?
In exceptional cases, we keep a file for more than twenty years, for example if the limitation period has been extended or if we believe that there is another legitimate interest that justifies the longer storage of the file.
We keep our records, including the invoices and other documents on which the personal data of the parties are stated, for a period of seven years after the end of the financial year in order to comply with the fiscal retention obligation.
You have the following rights:
- The right to inspect your personal data and to receive a copy thereof.
- The right to rectification of your personal data if these are incorrect or incomplete.
- The right to object to the processing and/or—in certain cases—the right to limit the processing of your personal data.
- In certain cases: the right to have your personal data erased (“right to be forgotten”).
- The right to obtain your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable form and to transfer that data to another person.
More information about these rights and when you can exercise these can be found on the website of the Dutch Data Protection Authority.
You can exercise your rights by contacting us.
Disclaimer
This website intends only to provide information about intellectual property in general and about De Vries & Metman in particular. De Vries & Metman endeavours to keep this information up-to-date.
De Vries & Metman does not accept any liability for damages resulting directly or indirectly from the information provided. No rights can be derived from the information.
