Merit Solutions Privacy Policy

The Merit Solutions, Inc. (Merit) Privacy Policy was revised on May 10, 2022. We update this policy as needed to stay compliant with relevant laws. If you have any questions or concerns about our policy, or our practices related to your personal information please contact privacy@meritsolutions.com or Merit Solutions, Inc., 1749 S Naperville Rd Ste 200, Wheaton, IL 60189. 

Please read this privacy policy carefully to help you make informed decisions about sharing your personal information with us.

Welcome

Thank you for participating in the Merit Solutions community. We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy.

This privacy policy applies to all information collected through our websites including both https://meritsolutions.com and https://www.meritsolutionsapps.com websites, all Merit Solutions products, and individual web applications, and/or any related services, sales, marketing, or events, collectively referred to as “Sites” or “Apps”. 

Collection and Use of Personal Information

You may be asked to voluntarily provide to us your personal information when registering as a user, participating in app or site activities, expressing interest in obtaining more information or otherwise contacting us. Merit Solutions, Inc. and its affiliates may share this personal information with each other and use it consistent with this Privacy Policy. They may also combine it with other information to provide and improve our products, services, content, and advertising. You are not required to provide the personal information that we have requested, but, if you chose not to do so, in many cases we will not be able to provide you with our products or services or respond to any queries you may have.  

The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Sites and Apps, the choices you make and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following: 

Name and Contact Data. We collect your first and last name, email address, postal address, phone number, and other similar contact data. 

Credentials. We collect passwords, password hints, and similar security information used for authentication and account access. 

Payment Data. We collect data necessary to process your payment if you make purchases, such as your payment instrument number (such as a credit card number), and the security code associated with your payment instrument. All payment data is stored by our payment processor(s) and you should review its privacy policies and contact the payment processor directly to respond to your questions. Credit card processors include: www.stripe.com or www.authorize.net.  

Social Media Login Data. We provide you with the option to register using social media account details, like your Facebook, Twitter or other social media account. If you choose to register in this way, we will collect the Information described in the section called “Social Logins” below.

All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information. 

Automatically collected. IP address and/or browser and device characteristics are collected automatically when you visit our websites. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Sites or Apps and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Sites and Apps, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes. 

Cookies and similar technologies: Like many businesses, we may also collect information through cookies and similar technologies. Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Sites and Apps. 

Geo-Location Information. We may request access or permission to and track location- based information from your mobile device, either continuously or while you are using our mobile application, to provide location-based services. If you wish to change our access or permissions, you may do so in your device’s settings. 

Mobile Device Access. We may request access or permission to certain features from your mobile device, including your mobile device’s Bluetooth, calendar, camera, contacts, microphone, reminders, sensors, SMS messages, social media accounts, storage, and other features. If you wish to change our access or permissions, you may do so in your device’s settings. 

Mobile Device Data. We may automatically collect device information, such as your mobile device ID, model and manufacturer, operating system, version information and IP address. 

Notifications. We may request to send you email and/or push notifications regarding your account, activities, or Merit Solutions, Inc., Merit for Life Science and websites. If you wish to opt-out from receiving promotional communications, you may turn them off in your device’s settings and app configuration. Merit Solutions reserves the right to provide critical product alerts to active customers. 

Information collected from other Sources. We may obtain information about you from other sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, social media platforms, as well as from other third parties. Examples of the information we receive from other sources include social media profile information, i.e., your name, gender, birthday, email, current city, state and country, user identification numbers for your contacts, profile picture URL and any other information that you choose to make public; marketing leads and search results and links, including paid listings, such as sponsored links. 

Merit Solutions does not collect or retain personally identified information including hospital patient information (HIPAA), user social security numbers, date of birth, driver’s license or other US issued government identification. 

How your personal information is used

We use personal information collected via our Sites and Apps for a variety of business purposes described below. We process your personal information for these purposes in reliance on our legitimate business interests (“Business Purposes”), in order to enter into or perform a contract with you (“Contractual”), with your consent (“Consent”), and/or for compliance with our legal obligations (“Legal Reasons”). We indicate the specific processing grounds we rely on next to each purpose listed below.  

We may use the information we collect or receive: 

  • To send you product, service, and new feature information and/or information about changes to our terms, conditions, and policies 
  • To post testimonials that may contain personal information. Prior to posting a testimonial, we will obtain your Consent to use your name and testimonial. If you wish to update, or delete your testimonial, please contact us at privacy@meritsolutions.com and be sure to include your name, testimonial location, and contact information 
  • To request feedback on your experience using the Apps with your Consent. We may use your information to request feedback and to contact you about your use of our Apps. 
  • As part of our efforts to keep our Apps safe and secure, for example, for fraud prevention and monitoring 
  • In order to enable user-to-user communications with each user’s Consent 
  • To enforce our terms, conditions, and policies 
  • To respond to legal requests and prevent harm. If we receive a subpoena or other legal request, we may need to inspect the data we hold to determine how to respond 

Information Sharing

We only share information with your consent, to comply with laws, to protect your rights, or to fulfill business obligations. We only share and disclose your information in the situations described below. 

  • Compliance with Laws. We may disclose your information where we are legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process, such as in response to a court order or a subpoena, including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements. 
  • Vital Interests and Legal Rights. We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or act regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person and illegal activities, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved. 
  • Vendors, Consultants and Other Third-Party Service Providers. We may share your data with third party vendors, service providers, contractors or agents who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. Examples include payment processing, data analysis, email delivery, hosting services, customer service and marketing efforts. We may allow selected third parties to use tracking technology in the Sites and Apps, which will enable them to collect data about how you interact with the Sites and Apps over time. This information may be used to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content and better understand online activity. Unless described in this Policy, we do not share, sell, rent, or trade any of your information with third parties for their promotional purposes. 
  • Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company. 
  • Third-Party Advertisers. We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit and use the Sites and Apps. These companies may use information about your visits to our websites and other websites that are contained in web cookies and other tracking technologies in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. Please read our Cookie Policy above for further information. 
  • Affiliates. We may share your information with our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honor this privacy policy. Affiliates include our parent company and any subsidiaries, joint venture partners or other companies that we control or that are under common control with us. 
  • Business Partners. We may share your information with our business partners to offer you certain products, services, or promotions. 
  • With your Consent. We may disclose your personal information for any other purpose with your consent. 
  • Other Users. When you share personal information, for example, by submitting forms, comments, or other content to the Sites and Apps or otherwise interact with public areas of the Sites and Apps, such personal information may be viewed by all users and may be publicly distributed outside our Apps in perpetuity. Similarly, other users will be able to view descriptions of your activity, communicate with you within our Sites and Apps, and view your profile.

International Transfer of information

We may transfer, store, and process your information in countries other than your own. Our applications reside in the Microsoft Azure Cloud and are subject to the Microsoft privacy policy https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement. If you are accessing our Sites and Apps outside of the United States please be aware that your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed by us in our facilities and by those third parties with whom we may share your personal information (see “Disclosure of Your Information” above), in other countries.  

Third Party Websites

Merit Sites do not contain advertisements from third parties that are not affiliated with us. 

Keeping Your Information

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law, such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements. No purpose in this policy will require us keeping your personal information for longer than 1 year past the termination of your account. 

When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize it. If this is not possible, for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives, then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until the deletion is possible. 

Information Safety

We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, please also remember that we cannot guarantee that the internet itself is 100% secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Sites and Apps is at your own risk. You should only access the services within a secure environment. 

Information from Minors

We do not knowingly solicit data from or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Sites and Apps, you represent that you are at least 18 or that you are the parent or guardian of such a minor and consent to such minor dependent’s use of the Sites and Apps. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data from children under age 18 collected by us, please contact us at privacy@meritsolutions.com. 

European Economic Area Privacy Rights

You have certain rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include the right 1) to request access and obtain a copy of your personal information, 2) to request rectification or erasure; 3) to restrict the processing of your personal information; and 4) if applicable, to data portability. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. To make such a request, please use contact information provided in this document. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws. 

If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please note however that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal. 

If you are a resident in the European Economic Area and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here. 

You may, at any time, review or change the information in your account or terminate your account by: 

  • Logging into your account settings and updating your account 
  • Contacting us using the contact information provided at the end of this document 

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, some information may be retained in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our Terms of Use and/or comply with legal requirements. 

Opting Out of Email Marketing 

You can unsubscribe from our marketing email list at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link that can be found in the emails that we send or by contacting us using the details provided in this document. You will then be removed from the marketing email list – however, we will still need to send you service-related emails that are necessary for the administration and use of your account.  

You can also opt-out by: 

  • Logging into your account settings and updating your preferences 
  • Contacting us using the contact information provided at the end of this document 

California Residents Privacy Rights

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine the Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information, if any, we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below. 

If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with Merit Solutions or Merit for Life Science software, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post in the Apps and on the Sites. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided in this document and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed in Merit for Life Science, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from our systems. 

Contact Information 

You may contact us via privacy@meritsolutions.com, or by mail by sent to Merit Solutions, Inc., 1749 S Naperville Rd Ste 200, Wheaton IL 60189.