Legal — draft
Privacy Notice
How IPMeld handles personal data, and the rights available to you.
Draft — requires professional legal review before launch
This document is a working draft prepared as part of the IPMeld website build. It has not been reviewed or approved by a qualified legal adviser and must not be relied upon in its current form. All bracketed placeholders require verified information before publication.
Version 1.0 draft · Last updated 2 September 2026 · Governing law: England and Wales [to be confirmed]
1. Who is responsible
The controller for personal data processed through the IPMeld Platform is Big5 Network Ltd, 167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London, England, W1W 5PF, United Kingdom. Telephone +44 (0) 203 576 6565. Email [email protected]. Company registration number, ICO registration number and data protection contact [to be confirmed].
Where IPMeld and an institutional partner both determine how data is used, a joint controller or controller-to-controller arrangement will be recorded in writing.
2. What we collect
Enquiry and contact data: name, organisation, email address, telephone number, country, enquiry type, subject, message and consent record.
Account data: name, role, organisation, email address, credentials, authentication factors and access logs.
Submission data: invention descriptions, technical documents, evidence files, contributor and co-inventor details, employment, supervision and funding declarations, publication history, ownership declarations and any material you upload.
Assessment data: reviewer identity, conflict-of-interest declarations, assessment notes, recommendations and risk flags.
Technical data: IP address, device and browser information, pages viewed, and cookie identifiers where you have consented. See the Cookie Notice.
Please do not submit special category data (such as health data) or the personal data of third parties unless it is necessary and you are entitled to share it.
3. Why we use it and our lawful basis
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Responding to enquiries | Consent, and legitimate interests in operating the Platform |
| Operating accounts and authentication | Contract |
| Assessing submissions, verifying ownership and contributors | Contract, and legitimate interests in accurate commercialisation records |
| Matching technologies to industry challenges | Contract, and legitimate interests |
| Controlled disclosure to prospective partners | Consent recorded per disclosure |
| Newsletter and insights | Consent |
| Security, audit logging and fraud prevention | Legitimate interests, legal obligation |
| Legal, tax and regulatory compliance | Legal obligation |
Where we rely on consent you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not affect processing already carried out.
4. Who we share it with
We may share personal data with: assigned expert reviewers, under confidentiality and conflict-of-interest obligations; institutional partners where a submission is linked to that institution; prospective industrial partners, only under controlled access and with a recorded consent; professional advisers, including patent attorneys and lawyers; and service providers, including hosting, email delivery, mapping and analytics providers.
We do not sell personal data. Inventor identities and confidential technical detail are not published on public pages.
Forms on this website (enquiry, invention submission, industry challenge, registration and mailing-list forms) are transmitted using a third-party form-delivery service, which receives the data you enter and forwards it to us by email. That service acts as a processor and stores submissions on its own systems. It is not an encrypted or secure disclosure channel: please do not use these forms for confidential technical detail, unpublished patent information or enabling information. Contact us to agree a secure route instead.
Named processors and sub-processors [to be confirmed and listed before launch].
5. International transfers
IPMeld operates internationally, so personal data may be transferred outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area. Where that happens we intend to rely on adequacy regulations or on the International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, together with a transfer risk assessment. Specific transfer mechanisms and destinations [to be confirmed].
6. How long we keep it
- Enquiries: [24] months from last contact.
- Accounts: for the life of the account and [12] months afterwards.
- Declined or withdrawn submissions: a minimal record is retained to evidence what was received and when, for [6] years, in order to protect both parties.
- Active and licensed technologies: for the duration of the relationship and any statutory limitation period afterwards.
- Audit and disclosure logs: [6] years.
Retention periods are indicative and require confirmation on legal review.
7. Security
Intended measures include encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access control, multi-factor authentication for privileged accounts, least-privilege permissions, disclosure and access logging, expiring document links, segregation of confidential technical material from public content, backup and recovery procedures, and staff and reviewer confidentiality obligations.
No system is completely secure. Areas marked Secure Portal Coming Soon are prototypes and must not be used for confidential material.
8. Your rights
Subject to conditions, you have the right to be informed, to access your data, to rectification, to erasure, to restriction, to data portability, to object to processing based on legitimate interests or used for direct marketing, and to withdraw consent. You also have the right not to be subject to solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects; IPMeld does not make such decisions about submissions, which are reviewed by people.
To exercise a right, email [email protected]. We aim to respond within one month. You may complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or to your local supervisory authority.
9. Children
The Platform is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. Where a school or college programme involves participants under 18, a separate arrangement including appropriate consents is required.
10. Changes
We may update this notice. The version in force is shown above. Where changes are material we will notify registered account holders.
Contact
Questions about this document should be directed to the IPMeld team:
Big5 Network Ltd
167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor
London, England, W1W 5PF
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0) 203 576 6565
Email: [email protected]
Website: ipmeld.com
IPMeld is a project promoted and supported by Big5 Network Ltd. IPMeld is a working brand name subject to company-name, domain and trade mark clearance.