Privacy & Cookie Policy

Last updated: 29th June 2026

This Privacy & Cookie Policy explains how Harbour and Clark Ltd ("we", "us", "our", the "Firm") collects, uses, and protects personal data, and how we use cookies on our website at https://harbourandclark.com/ (the "Site"). It should be read alongside our Terms and Conditions.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR).

Who we are

Harbour and Clark Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales, company registration number 16898667, with registered office at Suite 4, The Works, 6 West Street, Olney, Buckinghamshire MK46 5HR. We are regulated by the Intellectual Property Regulatory Board (IPReg).

For the purposes of UK data protection law, we are the data controller for the personal data we collect and process.

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your data, you can contact us at:

Email: enquiries@harbourandclark.com
Post: Harbour and Clark Ltd, Suite 4, The Works, 6 West Street, Olney, Buckinghamshire MK46 5HR

Personal data we collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

• Contact details – name, job title, business name, email address, postal address, and telephone number.
• Client and matter information – details of your trade mark portfolio, instructions you provide, correspondence with us, and any other information you share in the course of us providing our services.
• Identification and verification data – information required to comply with our anti-money laundering and "know your client" obligations, such as proof of identity and proof of address.
• Financial information – billing details and payment information. We do not store full payment card details on our Site.
• Communications – the content of emails, letters, calls, and meeting notes between you and us.
• Website usage data – information about how you use our Site, including IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, and referring URLs. This is collected via cookies and similar technologies (see the Cookies section below).
• Marketing preferences – your preferences in relation to receiving marketing communications from us.

How we collect personal data

We collect personal data in the following ways:

• Directly from you when you contact us by email, phone, or post, instruct us to act on your behalf, or otherwise engage with our services.
• From third parties, such as your other professional advisers, intellectual property offices, search and watching service providers, or publicly available sources.
• Automatically when you use our Site, through cookies and similar technologies.

Purposes and legal bases for processing

We process personal data for the following purposes, relying on the legal bases set out below:

Purpose	Legal basis
Providing our professional services to you, including filing, prosecuting, managing, and enforcing trade mark rights.	Performance of a contract with you; or our legitimate interests in providing services to our clients.
Responding to enquiries received through our Site, by email, or by phone.	Our legitimate interests in responding to potential and existing clients; or steps taken at your request prior to entering into a contract.
Verifying your identity and complying with anti-money laundering and other regulatory obligations.	Compliance with a legal obligation.
Sending invoices and managing payments.	Performance of a contract; compliance with a legal obligation (tax and accounting).
Sending you updates about IP law, our services, and events (where you have opted in or where permitted by law).	Your consent; or our legitimate interests in promoting our services to existing clients (soft opt-in under PECR).
Operating and improving our Site, including analytics.	Your consent (for non-essential cookies); our legitimate interests in maintaining a functional, secure website.
Handling complaints, disputes, and regulatory enquiries.	Compliance with a legal obligation; our legitimate interests in defending our position.
Maintaining records of our work, including for the periods set out in our Terms and Conditions.	Compliance with a legal obligation; our legitimate interests in keeping accurate business records.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered whether those interests are overridden by your rights and freedoms, and concluded that they are not. You can ask us for more information about this balancing exercise by contacting us.

Who we share personal data with

We may share personal data with the following categories of recipient, where necessary for the purposes described above:

• Intellectual property offices in the UK and overseas (such as the UK Intellectual Property Office, the European Union Intellectual Property Office, and the World Intellectual Property Organization).
• Overseas associates and foreign attorneys instructed to assist with international matters.
• Third-party service providers who support our business, including IT and cloud hosting providers, accounting and billing software providers, trade mark search and watching service providers, professional investigators, and couriers.
• Our professional advisers, including accountants, auditors, lawyers, and insurers.
• Regulators and law enforcement, where required by law, including IPReg, HMRC, and other competent authorities.
• Your authorised representatives, such as other professional advisers acting on your behalf, where you have asked us to liaise with them.

We require our service providers to keep personal data secure and to process it only for the purposes for which we engaged them.

International transfers

Some of the parties we share data with (such as foreign attorneys, overseas IP offices, and certain cloud service providers) are located outside the UK. Where we transfer personal data outside the UK, we ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as:

• Transferring to a country that the UK government has determined provides an adequate level of protection;
• Using the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the International Data Transfer Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses; or
• Relying on a derogation under Article 49 UK GDPR, such as where the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract with you, or for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.

You can ask us for more information about the safeguards in place for any specific transfer by contacting us.

How long we keep personal data

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, regulatory, tax, and accounting requirements.

In line with our Terms and Conditions, we generally keep client files for seven years following the last correspondence on the matter (excluding correspondence relating solely to settlement of our invoices). After this period, we may destroy the files without notice. Certain records, such as those required for accounting and money laundering compliance, may be kept for longer where law requires it.

If you have made an enquiry but not become a client, we will normally keep your enquiry and related correspondence for up to two years, unless we agree otherwise with you.

How we protect personal data

We have appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to protect personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction, or damage. These include secure IT systems, access controls, staff training, and confidentiality obligations.

However, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure. As noted in our Terms and Conditions, email correspondence is not fully secure, and we cannot guarantee its absolute security in transit.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

• Right of access – to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification – to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
• Right to erasure – to ask us to delete personal data, in certain circumstances.
• Right to restrict processing – to ask us to limit how we use your personal data, in certain circumstances.
• Right to data portability – to receive certain personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, or to ask us to transfer it to another controller.
• Right to object – to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and to object to direct marketing at any time.
• Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
• Rights in relation to automated decision-making – we do not currently carry out automated decision-making, including profiling, that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details above. We may ask you to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within one month, although this period may be extended by a further two months for complex requests.

Marketing

From time to time we may send you emails about IP updates, the services we offer, and events we are holding. We will only do so where you have opted in, or where we are otherwise permitted to under PECR (for example, where you are an existing client and the marketing relates to similar services).

You can opt out of marketing at any time by emailing enquiries@harbourandclark.com or by clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email.

Cookies and similar technologies

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. They help the website function and provide information to the site owner. We also use similar technologies such as web beacons, pixels, and local storage, which we refer to collectively as "cookies" in this policy.

Cookies can be:

• Session cookies – deleted when you close your browser.
• Persistent cookies – remain on your device until they expire or you delete them.
• First-party cookies – set by the website you are visiting.
• Third-party cookies – set by another domain, such as embedded social media tools.

How we use cookies

We use cookies for the following purposes:

Strictly necessary cookies – essential for the Site to function. They enable core functionality such as security, network management, and remembering your cookie preferences. These cookies do not require consent under PECR.

Analytics cookies – help us understand how visitors interact with the Site by collecting information in anonymised or pseudonymised form. These cookies are only set with your consent.

Functional cookies – enable enhanced functionality, such as remembering your preferences. These cookies are only set with your consent.

Third-party and embedded content cookies – set by third parties such as LinkedIn when you interact with embedded content or links. We do not control these cookies and recommend you review the providers' own policies:

• LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/legal/cookie-policy

Cookies we use

The table below lists the main cookies used on our Site. Names and durations may change as we update the Site or as third-party providers update their services.

Cookie	Provider	Purpose	Category	Duration
wordpress_*, wp-settings-*	harbourandclark.com	WordPress core – session and site functionality (typically only set when logging into the admin area).	Strictly necessary	Session / up to 1 year
cookie_consent (or similar)	harbourandclark.com	Stores your cookie preferences.	Strictly necessary	Up to 12 months
_ga, _ga_*, _gid	Google Analytics	Used to distinguish users and sessions for analytics purposes.	Analytics (consent required)	Up to 2 years
bcookie, li_gc, lidc, UserMatchHistory	LinkedIn	Set when you interact with embedded LinkedIn content or links.	Third-party (consent required)	Session – up to 2 years

Note: if we add, remove, or change services on the Site, the cookies listed above may change. Please check this page periodically.

Managing your cookie preferences

When you first visit our Site, you will see a cookie banner that allows you to accept or reject non-essential cookies. You can change or withdraw your consent at any time by clicking the "Cookie Settings" link [in the footer of the Site / in the banner].

You can also control and delete cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to:

• See what cookies are stored and delete them individually;
• Block third-party cookies;
• Block cookies from particular sites;
• Block all cookies from being set;
• Delete all cookies when you close your browser.

Blocking all cookies may affect the functionality of this and other websites.

Guidance on managing cookies in common browsers:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Apple Safari
• Microsoft Edge

For more general information about cookies, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

Do Not Track

Some browsers offer a "Do Not Track" (DNT) signal. Because there is no industry-wide standard for how DNT signals should be interpreted, our Site does not currently respond to DNT signals. You can still manage your cookie preferences using the methods described above.

Third-party links

Our Site may contain links to other websites operated by third parties. This policy does not apply to those sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third-party sites, and we encourage you to read their privacy policies.

Children's privacy

Our services are aimed at businesses and professionals, and our Site is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 18. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us so we can take appropriate action.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy & Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, the cookies we use, or for legal, operational, or regulatory reasons. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

Complaints

If you have any concerns about how we handle your personal data, please contact us first using the details above so that we have the opportunity to address them.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
Helpline: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://ico.org.uk/