Privacy Policy

Last updated July 2026.

This Privacy Policy explains how The Branding Iron (the “Firm,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, shares, and protects information you provide when you visit brandingironlegal.com (the “Site”) or otherwise interact with the Firm electronically. We respect your privacy and aim to be straightforward about what we do with your information.

Information We Collect

We collect the following kinds of information:

• Information you submit. Your name, email address, phone number, message content, uploaded documents (such as a USPTO Office Action or demand letter), and any other information you provide via the Site’s consultation-booking form, the trademark filing checklist form, the trademark clearance-assessment engagement request, or by emailing or calling the Firm directly. A clearance-assessment engagement request also includes the details you enter about the proposed mark, the goods or services, the client and authorized signer, and a payment method you enter directly with our payment processor (we do not receive or store your full payment-card number). When you reserve a complimentary consultation, we also collect your booking date, time, and time zone, your acceptance of the consultation policy and payment authorization, tokens that represent your saved payment method, and records of any cancellation, rescheduling, attendance, no-show, waiver, refund, or charge.
• Information collected automatically. When you visit the Site, your browser sends standard technical information including your IP address, browser type and version, device type, operating system, the pages you view, the date and time of your visit, and the referring page or URL. We may collect this through server logs, cookies, and analytics tools.
• Cookies, browser storage, and similar technologies. The Site uses cookies, browser storage, and similar technologies to operate, secure, analyze usage of, improve, and attribute traffic to the Site. See the Cookies, Browser Storage & Attribution and Current Technologies sections below.

We do not knowingly collect sensitive personal information (such as Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, or health information) through the Site. Please do not submit such information through any Site form.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information described above to:

• Deliver the resources you request (for example, sending you the trademark filing checklist after you submit the checklist form);
• Respond to your inquiries, evaluate conflicts, and schedule consultations;
• Reserve and administer consultations, and enforce the agreed consultation cancellation and no-show policy;
• Process, document, refund, and respond to disputes concerning an authorized $50 consultation cancellation or no-show charge, and prevent duplicate or unauthorized charges;
• Send you occasional updates from The Branding Iron about trademark law, services, and resources, where you have provided your email for that purpose;
• Operate, maintain, secure, and improve the Site;
• Analyze how visitors use the Site and attribute visits to the marketing channel that generated them, so we can make the Site and our marketing more useful and efficient;
• Comply with legal obligations and enforce our rights and the rights of others.

Services and technologies used by this website

The services listed below may be used to operate the website, process inquiries, measure website performance, schedule consultations, deliver requested resources, prevent spam, and support advertising if those features are activated. The “Current status” column identifies whether a service is presently active on the website.

Inactive advertising technologies do not collect information through this website unless and until they are enabled.

Cookies, Browser Storage & Attribution

Cookies are small data files, and browser storage (such as localStorage) is a similar mechanism, stored on your device when you visit a website. We may use cookies and browser storage that fall into the following categories:

• Strictly necessary, required to operate the Site and deliver requested features;
• Analytics, used to understand how visitors use the Site (for example, which pages are most visited and how long visitors stay);
• Attribution, used to determine which marketing channel, campaign, or referring page led to a visit or inquiry;
• Functional, remember preferences such as previously dismissed banners.

When you arrive at the Site through a marketing link, we may store certain non-sensitive campaign parameters (such as utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_term, utm_content, click identifiers issued by an ad platform, and the referring page or URL) in first-party browser storage on your device. This information is used solely to attribute a later inquiry to the marketing activity that generated it, and it may be included as hidden fields when you submit a consultation or checklist form. We retain this browser-stored attribution information for approximately 90 days, after which it expires and is no longer used. We do not store your name, email address, phone number, uploaded-document content, or other form-submitted personal information in this browser storage, only the campaign and referrer data described above.

Most browsers allow you to refuse, delete, or clear cookies and browser storage through your browser settings. Disabling cookies or browser storage may affect how the Site functions for you and may prevent attribution data from being recorded. If we use third-party analytics tools (such as Google Analytics), those tools have their own privacy practices, see Third-Party Service Providers below.

How you found us. When you submit a form, we record how you reached our site, such as the search engine, AI assistant, or link that referred you, along with the page you first visited. We use this only to understand which resources help people find the firm. We do not sell this information or use it for advertising.

Third-Party Service Providers

We use trusted third parties to help us operate the Site and deliver services. Depending on which technologies are currently active (see the table above), these providers may process information on our behalf, including:

• Web hosting, security, and form-receipt providers (Netlify);
• Analytics tools (such as Google Analytics) to understand Site usage;
• Calendar and scheduling tools (such as TidyCal) for booking consultations;
• Email automation tools (such as MailerLite) when you request a deliverable or otherwise sign up for emails;
• Payment processing and saved-payment-method storage (Stripe) for trademark clearance-assessment engagement requests and for complimentary-consultation reservations (the $50 cancellation and no-show authorization);
• Transactional email providers used to send the Firm engagement-request notifications and to send you receipts and confirmations;
• Advertising measurement or remarketing tools (such as Google Ads, Meta Pixel, or Microsoft Ads), but only once activated and identified as active in the table above.

These providers are bound by their own privacy practices and contractual obligations.

How We Share Information

We share the information you provide only as follows:

• With service providers, as described above, to operate and improve the Site;
• To comply with applicable law, valid legal process, or a lawful request from a government authority;
• To protect the safety, rights, or property of the Firm, its clients, or the public;
• In connection with a sale, merger, or other transfer of the Firm’s business, subject to confidentiality obligations.

Sale, Sharing & Targeted Advertising

The Firm does not sell personal information for money. Depending on the Site’s current analytics and advertising configuration, certain disclosures to advertising or analytics providers may be treated as a “sale,” “sharing,” or targeted advertising under some state privacy laws. Where required, the Firm provides a method to opt out and honors legally recognized preference signals, including Global Privacy Control.

Advertising and conversion measurement

The Firm may use advertising and conversion-measurement services to understand whether an advertisement led to a website visit, inquiry, or scheduled consultation. These services may use cookies, local storage, click identifiers, or similar technologies only as permitted by the visitor’s choices and applicable law.

When advertising technologies are active, the website may disclose limited event and device information to the applicable advertising provider. The Firm does not authorize advertising providers to receive the substance of legal inquiries, uploaded documents, proposed marks, Office Actions, or other form-message content for advertising purposes.

The Firm does not use website form content to create advertising audiences.

Analytics and advertising event data must not include the substance of a legal inquiry, a proposed mark, application or registration numbers, uploaded-file names, document contents, message text, or other information submitted for legal review.

Current advertising-technology status is identified in the services table above.

Your privacy choices

When you first visit the website, you may accept or reject optional analytics and advertising technologies. Essential technologies used for security, form processing, scheduling, and requested services remain active where necessary.

You may reopen the privacy controls at any time by selecting “Privacy Choices” in the website footer. If your browser sends a recognized Global Privacy Control signal, advertising technologies will remain disabled.

Rejecting optional technologies does not prevent you from reading the website, submitting an inquiry, scheduling a consultation, or requesting the trademark checklist.

Global Privacy Control

Where applicable law requires it, the Site treats a recognized Global Privacy Control signal as a request to opt out of sale, sharing, or targeted advertising for the browser or device sending the signal.

Your Rights & Choices

Depending on where you live and whether the applicable law applies to the Firm, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or obtain information about certain processing, and to opt out of certain advertising disclosures.

You may also:

• Unsubscribe from email updates at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or by contacting us at info@brandingironlegal.com;
• Adjust your browser cookie and storage settings as described above; and
• Send a Global Privacy Control signal, which we honor as described above where applicable law requires it.

To exercise any of these rights, contact info@brandingironlegal.com. We may need to verify your identity before responding, and some requests may be limited by legal, ethical, or professional-responsibility obligations described in Data Retention below.

California Residents (CCPA / CPRA)

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act) may give you rights regarding your personal information, including the right to know what categories of personal information we collect, the right to request deletion, the right to correction, and the right to opt out of “sales” or “sharing” of personal information, including through a recognized Global Privacy Control signal. See Sale, Sharing & Targeted Advertising above. To exercise your California privacy rights, contact info@brandingironlegal.com.

EU/UK Residents (GDPR / UK GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, you may have rights under the General Data Protection Regulation, including the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, or object to the processing of your personal data, and the right to data portability. Our legal basis for processing is generally your consent (for marketing emails and, where applicable, analytics or advertising technologies), the legitimate interest of operating and improving the Site, and compliance with legal obligations. To exercise your rights, contact info@brandingironlegal.com.

Uploaded Documents

Consultation forms may permit limited document uploads, such as a USPTO Office Action or demand letter. Submit only what is reasonably necessary for the conflicts and intake review. Form submission does not create an attorney-client relationship. The Firm limits access to intake materials and retains or deletes them in accordance with legal, ethical, security, and business requirements.

Children’s Privacy

The Site is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at info@brandingironlegal.com and we will take appropriate steps.

Data Retention

We retain personal information only as long as necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. Retention periods vary by category:

• Unretained inquiries, inquiries that do not result in an engagement are retained for a defined period set by the Firm and then deleted or archived;
• Marketing subscribers, email and subscription activity are retained until you unsubscribe, plus a suppression record kept to honor that unsubscribe request going forward;
• Analytics and attribution data, browser-stored campaign and referrer data are retained for approximately 90 days as described above; server-side analytics data are retained per the applicable provider’s configured retention period;
• Client files, retained under the Firm’s professional-responsibility retention policy, which for client matters may extend several years beyond the conclusion of representation;
• Consultation reservations, the payment method saved to reserve a consultation is retained only as long as reasonably necessary to administer the appointment and the cancellation and no-show policy, and is removed when it is no longer needed for that purpose; records of the policy version, your consent, the booking, and any charge, waiver, refund, or dispute are retained as reasonably necessary for accounting, dispute-resolution, and professional-obligation purposes;
• Security logs, retained for an operational period sufficient to detect, investigate, and respond to security issues.

Website inquiry records are retained only as long as reasonably necessary to evaluate the inquiry, comply with professional obligations, maintain appropriate conflict and contact records, protect legal rights, and satisfy applicable law. Uploaded documents that do not relate to an accepted representation may be deleted according to the Firm’s intake-retention practices.

Saved payment methods and delayed charges

The Firm uses Stripe to process payments for trademark clearance-assessment engagement requests. When you submit a request, you enter your payment-card details directly on Stripe’s secure, hosted payment page. The Branding Iron does not receive or store your full payment-card number. Stripe securely stores a token representing your saved payment method. No legal fee is charged when you submit the request. If the Firm completes its conflict review and confirms that it can accept the matter, the saved payment method may then be charged the fixed fee in accordance with your authorization, and work on the assessment begins. If the Firm cannot accept the matter, no charge is made.

To create and evaluate your request, the details you provide (such as the client and contact information, the proposed mark, and the goods or services) are transmitted to and stored with Stripe as part of your customer and transaction record. Stripe processes this information as the Firm’s service provider and under Stripe’s own privacy policy. The Firm also uses a transactional email provider to receive engagement-request notifications and to send you receipts and confirmations.

Payment information is used to process the authorized transaction, issue receipts, prevent fraud, address failed payments, and respond to disputes. Payment information is not used to create advertising audiences. The Firm does not transmit proposed marks, legal-inquiry text, uploaded documents, reports, or other substantive client information to advertising platforms.

Consultation reservations and cancellation/no-show charges

When you reserve a complimentary consultation, the website may use Stripe to save a token representing the payment method you provide. The Branding Iron does not receive or store your full payment-card number. The $50 fee is not charged when you reserve or attend the consultation. Stripe or the card issuer may require authentication or a temporary verification step to save the payment method.

If you separately authorize the consultation policy, the firm may charge the saved payment method $50 after a cancellation or rescheduling with less than 24 hours' notice or a missed appointment, subject to the policy's exceptions. The firm retains records of the policy version, consent, booking time, booking status, and any charge, waiver, refund, or dispute as reasonably necessary to administer the policy, maintain accounting records, resolve disputes, and comply with legal and professional obligations.

A payment method saved for this consultation policy will not be used for legal fees, government fees, a trademark clearance assessment, recurring transactions, or any other purpose without separate authorization. A payment method saved for another purpose will not be used for a consultation fee without separate authorization.

Security

We use commercially reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect the personal information we collect. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, however, so we cannot guarantee the absolute security of any information you submit.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, including as analytics and advertising technologies are activated, deactivated, or changed on the Site. The “Last updated” date above reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be communicated through the Site. Your continued use of the Site after the effective date of any change constitutes your acceptance of the updated Policy.

Contact Us

For questions about this Privacy Policy, or to exercise any of the rights described above:

The Branding Iron
John E. Dugger, Esq.
Franklin, Tennessee
info@brandingironlegal.com · 615.513.8257