BROTHER INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
PRIVACY STATEMENT
Overview
Brother International Corporation (“Brother” or “we”) is headquartered in Bridgewater,
New Jersey (U.S.A) and knows that the privacy of personal information is an important
concern to our customers and business associates (“you”, “users”, or “your”).
This privacy policy addresses personally identifiable information that is collected:
a) through all communications you may have with Brother;
b) at our websites (collectively, the “Site”); and,
c) through offline product and support services
(all such personally identifiable information are referred to herein collectively
as “personal information”). This policy does not cover information other than personal
information as it is described above.
Please note that this policy is intended to supply you with information concerning
Brother’s collection of personal information and, set forth the commitments Brother
is making concerning personal information that Brother collects from you under this
policy.
By using the Site or providing your personal information to Brother, you agree to
the terms and conditions of this privacy policy. If you do not agree to the terms
and conditions of this privacy policy, please do not use the Site or provide your
personal information to Brother.
Collection of Personal Information
Brother collects information from our users in a variety of ways, including through
telephone, mail, e-mail and any other forms of communication. The information may
be collected from registration and warranty forms, parties dealing with customer
service issues, several different points on Brother’s websites, and, at times, from
third parties, both at the request of Brother and through referrals to Brother.
At times, Brother may collect your personal information, such as your name, e-mail
address, home or work address or telephone number, account information and any other
personal information. If you choose to make a purchase from us, you will need to
provide additional information, such as your credit card number and billing address
that is used to create your billing account.
Several areas of the Site, for example, where you may request services offered by
Brother or where Brother asks you to provide feedback, require you to provide certain
personal information. Collecting necessary, as well as certain optional, information
will aid Brother in fulfilling these requests. Likewise, your on-line experience
is enhanced by information collected by Brother because the gathering of certain
information regarding Site activity and visits is analyzed through log files. Information
collected includes anonymous data like IP addresses, browser types, referring pages,
pages visited and time spent on the Site. This information is used in aggregate
to analyze and improve the sites. IP addresses, etc. are not linked to personally
identifiable information. Please note that while IP addresses can be tied to personally
identifiable information, this is not a practice Brother utilizes at this time.
Brother uses Web Trends software to analyze Site activity but not to capture personal
information. (More information on Web Trends can be obtained from its website: http://www.webtrends.com).
In addition, when you use the Site, information collected through cookies, log files,
clear gifs and other similar means may be stored to create a profile of our users.
A profile is stored information that Brother keeps relating to you that details
our users' viewing preferences. Consequently, collected information is tied to your
personally identifiable information to provide offers and improve the content of
the Site for you. This profile may be used to tailor your visit to the Site and
to direct pertinent marketing promotions to you.. See "Sharing" below. For
more information on cookies, please see “Use of Cookies” below.
If you receive newsletters or promotional e-mails from Brother, we may collect additional
information about you through the use of customized links or similar technologies
to determine whether the e-mail was opened and which links were utilized by you
in order to provide you more focused e-mail communications or other information.
Use of Your Personal Information
Brother uses your personal information to deliver services, fulfill your requests,
provide customer service, operate and improve its sites and operations, and other
generally accepted business related purposes. Brother uses personal information
collected to better understand your preferences, respond to your needs and enhance
your overall experience with Brother and its business associates. Brother may communicate
with you on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regards to issues
relating to your business transactions with Brother. The personal information Brother
may request from you will be used to fulfill your requests for information and assistance
regarding Brother products and services, and other generally accepted business related
purposes. Brother usually replies to inquiries and requests via email, US mail or
phone. If you prefer a certain method of communication for Brother’s reply, please
indicate your preference when making the request.
If you indicate an interest in receiving e-mail communications, Brother may periodically
send you information about other Brother products and services that Brother feels
may be of interest to you. Established users will occasionally receive information
on products, services, special deals and/or newsletters. Out of respect for the
privacy of our users, Brother presents you with the option to advise Brother of
certain types of communications you do not want to receive. See “Your Control Options”
below.
Occasionally we may invite you to participate in surveys or contests. Participation
in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the user therefore has
a choice whether or not to disclose personal information. The requested personal
information typically includes contact information (such as name and shipping address),
and demographic information (such as zip code), but the specific personal information
collected in any survey may vary. Personal information will be used by the contest
or survey sponsors to notify the winners and award prizes and as otherwise provided
in the applicable contest rules. Personal information may also be used for purposes
of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of Brother products, services
and websites and for other generally accepted business related purposes. Though
Brother may use a service provider to conduct these surveys or contests, Brother
will impose reasonable restrictions upon such service providers to require them
not use users' personally identifiable information for any purpose other than providing
services to Brother. You should carefully review the rules of each survey or contest
in which you participate, as they may contain additional important information about
Brother's or a sponsor's use of your personal information. To the extent that the
terms and conditions of such rules concerning the treatment of your personal information
conflict with this privacy policy, the terms and conditions of such rules shall
control.
On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement.
For instance, if Brother’s service is temporarily suspended for maintenance, a mailing
or e-mail announcement may be sent to you. Generally, if you have provided your
e-mail address to Brother, you may not opt-out of these types of communications.
Note that these communications are not promotional in nature and you may always
opt-out of promotional communications. See “Your Control Options” below.
Sharing
Except as described in this privacy policy, Brother does not disclose your personal
information to third parties outside of Brother without your consent. In addition,
Brother does not share your personal information with third parties for third party
marketing purposes.
In specific instances where your request requires action by a Brother staff member,
or Brother service providers, or affiliates Brother may forward or provide access
to your personal information. For example, if you inquire about a product or request
a quotation, Brother may forward relevant personal information such as contact information,
intent to purchase (time, quantity, models, etc.) as well as any special requests,
to a dealer. Your information, once transferred, is not subject to the policies
of Brother.
To fulfill certain requests or in furtherance of generally accepted business related
purposes, certain personal information will be disclosed to third party service
providers. In many cases, general services require certain personal information
be used to provide services to you, such as your name and mailing address, in order
to deliver a product that you purchased or other applicable personal information
when processing payment from you for the products you purchase. If your specific
request requires assistance from one of our service providers, Brother may pass
your personal information to them for follow-up. Brother will not sell or rent your
personal information to other companies for the purpose of the third parties' marketing
purposes without your consent. Brother may also receive personal information from
a third party; however, Brother is not committing to handle such information as
if we received it directly from you.
Brother shares aggregated demographic information with its business associates and
advertisers. For example Brother may, on a periodic basis, present information such
as the number of users, areas of interest, relationship to Brother, etc. This is
not linked to any personal information.
When sharing your personal information with third party service providers or business
associates, we take reasonable measures to protect the information.
Confidentiality and Security
When you provide Brother with personal information, your information is protected
whether Brother receives it online or offline. We have security measures and tools
in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information
under our control. When Brother receives personal information (such as name address,
phone, e-mail, etc.), on-line, the information is transferred to us by your browser
in an encrypted format using industry standard, Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption.
While on a secure page, such as the order form, the lock icon on the bottom of Web
browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer becomes locked,
as opposed to un-locked, or open, when you are just 'surfing'.
Unfortunately, no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed to be 100%
secure. As a result, although we strive to protect your personal information, we
cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us through
or in connection with the Site. No method of transmitting or storing data is completely
secure. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer
secure (for example, if you feel that the security of any account you might have
with us has been compromised), you must immediately notify us of the problem by
contacting us in accordance with the "Contact Information", section below
(note that physical mail notification will delay the time it takes for us to respond
to the problem).
Brother reserves the right to disclose information about you and your interaction
with us when we believe such disclosure is reasonable and/or appropriate. Though
Brother works to preserve user privacy, Brother may need to disclose personal information
when required by law, to cooperate with governmental or internal investigations,
during judicial proceedings, in response to a court order or legal process served
on Brother or its affiliates or to enforce Brother’s rights.
Collection and Use of Children’s Personal Information
The Site and other Brother on-line materials, although intended for general audiences,
are not directed to individuals under the age of 13 and Brother does not knowingly
collect personal information from such individuals. We request that individuals
under the age of 13 not provide personal information on the Site. If a user identifies
himself/herself as under the age of 13, Brother’s on-line services will block such
users from providing personal information. We encourage parents to monitor and participate
in their children’s activities on the Internet.
Your Control Options*
Choice of Opt-in / Opt-out. During the times you provide information to Brother
on-line on this Site, you are given the opportunity to opt-in to have your information
used for other purposes at the point where Brother asks for the information. For
example, this Site has an opt-in feature, so that if you want to access certain
areas of the Site and receive selected information, but not receive other materials,
you can prevent receipt of certain materials by not choosing an Opt-in for those
materials. In addition, if you later no longer wish to receive Brother’s e-mail
communications, you may opt-out of receiving these by following the instructions
included with each e-mail. In certain other materials, such as product registration
cards, for example, Brother allows you to select certain preferences for receiving
information from Brother. Brother also offers an opt-out mechanism for all communications
while registering a product online, or you may contact us at 1-877-276-8437 to opt-out.
*These features apply only to the Site administered by Brother International Corporation.
Use of Cookies
Your on-line experience with the Site provides additional information to Brother
of which you may not be aware. A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user's
computer tied to information about the user. Brother uses both session ID cookies
and persistent cookies. For the session ID cookie, once users close the browser,
the cookie simply terminates. A persistent cookie is a small text file stored on
the user's hard drive for an extended period of time. Persistent cookies can be
removed by following Internet browser help file directions.
Cookies may be used to customize delivery of content or enable special convenience
features on this Site. For example, by registering for this Site, a cookie may be
set so that you would not have to log in a password more than once or re-enter your
contact information into forms, thereby saving time while you are on this Site.
If you reject the cookie, you may still use this Site but may have to log in again
to access some areas of this Site. For example, you will not be able to take advantage
of materials available in the download areas without registering and accepting the
resultant cookie. Persistent cookies enable Brother to track and target your interests
to enhance your experience on this Site.
Links
Please understand that some sites provide geographic choices when you enter the
Site. Upon selecting a geographic area, however, you may be redirected to a different
site, with a different privacy policy. For example, when you visit the site located
at http://www.brother.com,
you are not visiting a site covered by this policy. This policy applies only after
you select a geography associated with “U.S.A.” or otherwise visit a Site associated
with Brother International Corporation.
The Site may contain links to other sites. Please be aware that Brother is not responsible
for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. Brother usually distinguishes
these third party web sites by methods such as either opening them in a separate
browser window or within a frame indicating the area within is not part of the Site.
In these instances the privacy policy of the Site will not apply. Brother encourages
you to be aware when you leave the Site and to read the privacy policies of each
and every website that you visit. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS PRIVACY POLICY DOES NOT
ADDRESS THE PRIVACY OR INFORMATION PRACTICES OF ANY THIRD PARTIES.
Assignment
We reserve the right to transfer any and all information that we collect from users
to a third party in the event of any merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer
or other disposition of all or any portion of Brother's assets or stock (including
without limitation in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings).
Correcting and Updating Personal Information
If your personal information changes, or if you no longer desire Brother’s service,
please contact Brother by telephone at 1-877-276-8437 or by e-mail to privacydata@brother.com
to correct or update your personal information.
Notification of Changes
If Brother decides to amend or update this privacy policy, Brother will post those
changes to this privacy policy, accessible from the Site, and other places Brother
deems appropriate so you are always aware of what information Brother collects,
how Brother uses it, and under what circumstances, if any, Brother discloses it.
Brother will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the
information was collected. Brother may elect to e-mail those of you, who have opted
to receive e-mail communications from Brother, notifying you of the changes in Brother’s
privacy practices. However, if you have elected not to receive any communication
communications from Brother then you will not be contacted about privacy changes.
Any changes to our privacy policy will become effective upon posting of the revised
privacy policy on the Internet, accessible through the Site. You can determine when
this privacy policy was last revised by referring to the “Last Updated” legend
at the top of this page. Continued communication with Brother, following such changes
constitutes your acceptance of the revised privacy policy then in effect. We encourage
you to bookmark this page and to periodically review it to ensure familiarity with
the most current version of our privacy policy.
Other Information
This privacy policy represents the sole, authorized statement of Brother’s practices
with respect to the collection of personal information and Brother’s use of such
information. Any summaries of this privacy policy generated by third party software
or otherwise (for example, in connection with the "Platform for Privacy Preferences"
or "P3P") shall have no legal effect, do not bind Brother, shall not be relied upon
in substitute for this privacy policy, and neither supersede nor modify this privacy
policy. This privacy policy is in the English language. Any translation of this
privacy policy shall have no legal validity. In the event of any inconsistency between
the English language version hereof and any translation of this privacy policy into
another language, this English language version will govern.
This privacy policy does not apply to those Brother sites, services and products
that do not display or link to this privacy policy or that have their own, different
privacy policies. It does not cover information that may be collected through software
downloaded from the Site. If you have questions or concerns regarding this privacy
policy, please contact Brother’s Webmaster by using our AskUs Form.
Personal information collected by Brother will be stored and processed in the United
States or any other country in which Brother or any of Brother’s third party vendors
store or process information. By contacting Brother and providing your personal
information, you consent to the collection, use and transfer of your personal information
to the US and around the globe.
Your Consent
By your interaction and communication with Brother, including the use of the Site,
you consent to the collection and use of personal information as outlined in this
privacy policy.
Contact Information
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding our privacy policy, please contact
Brother International Corporation.
Click here for AskUs Form
Phone 1-877-276-8437
Fax 1-800-947-1445
Postal Address: Brother International Corporation, 100 Somerset
Corporate Blvd, Bridgewater, New Jersey 08807, Attn: Legal Department
Website URL (http://www.brother-usa.com)
