Privacy

Policy version: December 2024

www.novel-software.com (our website) is provided by SENTIVA LIMITED (trading as The Novel Factory) (‘we’, ‘our’ or ‘us’). We are the controller of personal data obtained via our website, meaning we are the organisation legally responsible for deciding how and for what purposes it is used.

We take your privacy very seriously. Please read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are and how and why we collect, store, use and share any information relating to you (your personal data) in connection with your use of our website and software. It also explains your rights in relation to your personal data and how to contact us or a relevant regulator in the event you have a complaint.

We collect, use and are responsible for certain personal data about you. When we do so we are subject to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). We are also subject to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) in relation to services we offer to individuals in the European Economic Area (EEA).

Given the nature of our website, we do not expect to collect the personal data of anyone under 18 years old. If you are aware that any personal data of anyone under 18 years old has been shared with our website please let us know so that we can delete that data.

This privacy policy is divided into the following sections:

    1. What this policy applies to

    This privacy policy relates to your use of our website and software only.

    2. Personal data we collect about you

    The personal data we collect about you depends on the particular activities carried out through our website. We may collect and use the following personal data about you:

    • your name and email address
    • details of any information, feedback or other matters you give to us by email, post or via social media
    • your account details, such as username and login details
    • your activities on, and use of, our website
    • your contact history and purchase history
    • information about how you use our website and technology systems
    • information you upload using our software

    You must provide this personal data to use our software unless we tell you that you have a choice.

    We collect and use this personal data for the purposes described in the section ‘How and why we use your personal data’ below.

    3. How your personal data is collected

    We collect personal data from you:

    a) directly, when you enter or send us information, such as when you register with us, contact us (including via email), send us feedback, purchase software via our website, post material to our website and complete customer surveys or participate in competitions via our website, social media or newsletter, and

    b) indirectly, such as your browsing activity while on our website or software; we will usually collect information indirectly using the technologies explained in the section on ‘Cookies [and other tracking technologies]’ below

    4. How and why we use your personal data

    Under data protection law, we can only use your personal data if we have a proper reason, eg:

    a) where you have given consent

    b) to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

    c) for the performance of a contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, or

    d) for our legitimate interests or those of a third party

    A legitimate interest is when we have a business or commercial reason to use your personal data, so long as this is not overridden by your own rights and interests. We will carry out an assessment when relying on legitimate interests, to balance our interests against your own. You can obtain details of this assessment by contacting us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

    The table below explains what we use your personal data for and why.

    What we use your personal data for Our reasons
    Creating and managing your account with usTo perform our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract
    Providing software products to youTo perform our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract
    Enforcing legal rights or defend or undertake legal proceedingsDepending on the circumstances: —to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations —in other cases, for our legitimate interests, ie to protect our business, interests and rights
    Customising our website and its content to your particular preferences based on a record of your selected preferences or on your use of our websiteDepending on the circumstances: —your consent as gathered by the separate cookies tool on our website —see ‘Cookies [and other tracking technologies]’ below —where we are not required to obtain your consent and do not do so, for our legitimate interests, i.e. to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service to you at the best price If you have provided such a consent you may withdraw it at any time by [insert details, eg explain by changing the setting on the cookies tool and add appropriate links] (this will not affect the lawfulness of our use of your personal data in reliance on that consent before it was withdrawn)
    Retaining and evaluating information on your recent visits to our website and software and how you move around different sections of our website for analytics purposes to understand how people use our website and software so that we can improve it, add features or to check our website and software is working as intendedDepending on the circumstances: —your consent as gathered by the separate cookies tool on our website —see ‘Cookies [and other tracking technologies]’ below —where we are not required to obtain your consent and do not do so, for our legitimate interests, ie to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service to you at the best price If you have provided such a consent you may withdraw it at any time by [insert details as appropriate] (this will not affect the lawfulness of our use of your personal data in reliance on that consent before it was withdrawn)
    Communications with you not related to marketing, including about changes to our terms or policies or changes to the software product or other important noticesDepending on the circumstances: —to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations —in other cases, for our legitimate interests, ie to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service to you at the best price
    Protecting the security of systems and data used to provide the servicesTo comply with our legal and regulatory obligations We may also use your personal data to ensure the security of systems and data to a standard that goes beyond our legal obligations, and in those cases our reasons are for our legitimate interests, ie to protect systems and data and to prevent and detect criminal activity that could be damaging for you and/or us
    Statistical analysis to help us understand our customer baseFor our legitimate interests, ie to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service to you at the best price
    Updating and enhancing customer recordsDepending on the circumstances: —to perform our contract with you or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract —to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations —where neither of the above apply, for our legitimate interests, eg making sure that we can keep in touch with our customers about existing orders and new products
    Disclosures and other activities necessary to comply with legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, eg to record and demonstrate evidence of your consents where relevant.To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
    Marketing our services to existing and former customersFor our legitimate interests, i.e. to promote our business to existing and former customers See ‘Marketing’ below for further information

    How and why we use your personal data—in more detail

    More details about how we use your personal data and why are set out in the table below.

    Purpose Processing operation Lawful basis relied on under the UK GDPR and EU GDPR Relevant categories of personal data
    Communications with you not related to marketing, including about changes to our terms or policies or changes to the products or other important noticesAddressing and sending communications to you as required by data protection laws, ie:
    —the UK GDPR or Data Protection Act 2018
    —the EU GDPR
    Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject (Article 6(1)(b))—your name and email address
    —your account details (username)
    Addressing and sending communications to you about changes to our terms or policies or changes to the products or other important notices (other than those addressed above)Our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)), which is to be as efficient as we can so we can deliver the best service to you.—your name and email address
    —your account details (username)
    Protecting the security of systems and data used to provide the servicesEnsuring we maintain the security of our website and software, for example blocking an IP address to protect from a denial of service attack or banning a user by email address if they abuse the cloud storage, or any other related security measures where we use an email or IP address in a security context.Our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f)), which is to ensure our website and software is secure so we can deliver the best service to you.—your name and email address
    —your account details (username)
    —your IP address
    Disclosures and other activities necessary to comply with legal and regulatory obligations that apply to our business, eg to record and demonstrate evidence of your consents where relevant.Recording and demonstrating evidence of your consents as required by data protection laws, ie:
    —the UK GDPR or Data Protection Act 2018
    —the EU GDPR
    Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject (Article 7(1))—your name and email address

    How and why we use your personal data—sharing

    See ‘Who we share your personal data with’ for further information on the steps we will take to protect your personal data where we need to share it with others.

    5. Marketing

    We will use your personal data to send you updates (by email) about our software products, including exclusive offers, promotions or new products.

    We have a legitimate interest in using your personal data for marketing purposes (see above ‘How and why we use your personal data’). This means we do not need your consent to send you marketing information, although we will always seek consent where required under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulation 2003. If we change our marketing approach in the future so that consent is needed, we will ask for this separately and clearly.

    You have the right to opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by:

    a) contacting us at [email protected]; or

    b) using the ‘unsubscribe’ link in emails.

    We may ask you to confirm or update your marketing preferences if you ask us to provide further products in the future, or if there are changes in the law, regulation, or the structure of our business.
    We will always treat your personal data with the utmost respect and never sell or share it with other organisations for marketing purposes.

    For more information on your right to object at any time to your personal data being used for marketing purposes, see ‘Your rights’ below.

    6. Who we share your personal data with

    We routinely share personal data with:

    a) third parties we use to help deliver our software to you, eg payment service providers.

    b) other third parties we use to help us run our business, eg website hosts and website analytics providers

    We only allow those organisations to handle your personal data if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data.

    We or the third parties mentioned above occasionally also share personal data with:

    a) our and their external auditors, eg in relation to the audit of our or their accounts, in which case the recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations

    b) our and their professional advisers (such as lawyers and other advisers), in which case the recipient of the information will be bound by confidentiality obligations

    c) law enforcement agencies, courts, tribunals and regulatory bodies to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations

    d) other parties that have or may acquire control or ownership of our business (and our or their professional advisers) in connection with a significant corporate transaction or restructuring, including a merger, acquisition, asset sale, initial public offering or in the event of our insolvency—usually, information will be anonymised but this may not always be possible. The recipient of any of your personal data will be bound by confidentiality obligations

    Who we share your personal data with—in more detail

    More details about who we share your personal data with and why are set out in the table below.

    Recipient Processing operation (use) by recipient Relevant categories of personal data transferred to recipient.
    Paddle.com Market Ltd, Judd House, 18-29 Mora Street, London, EC1V 8BT, United KingdomPayment provider used to handle subscriptions and purchases of our software.A user ID linked to your named account required for the checkout process.
    Cloudways Ltd, a subsidiary of DigitalOcean, LLC, 101 Avenue of the Americas 10th Floor New York, NY 10013 United StatesUsed for web hosting services.Name, email address and any other details submitted through our public website.
    Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California 94043, USAUsed for email services and collecting engagement data across our website and software.Any of the personal data we collect about you.
    MailerLite Limited, 38 Mount Street Upper, Dublin 2, D02 PR89 IrelandUsed for email services.Name, email address and any other details submitted through sign up forms.
    Microsoft, 1 Microsoft Way Redmond, WA, 98052-8300 United StatesUsed for email services and web hosting services.Any of the personal data we collect about you.
    Notion Labs, Inc., 2300 Harrison Street, San Francisco, CA 94110, United StatesProject management tool used to keep track of tasks.Any of the personal data we collect about you.
    Slack Technologies Limited, Slack Technologies Limited, Salesforce Tower, 60 R801, North Dock, Dublin, IrelandMessaging app used for internal communications.Any of the personal data we collect about you.
    Zoho Corporation Limited, Suite 1.09, Challenge House Sherwood Drive, Bletchley, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, MK3 6DPHelp desk software (Zoho Desk) and CRM (Bigin).Any of the personal data we collect about you.

    We will not share your personal data with any other third party.

    Who we share your personal data with—further information

    If you would like more information about who we share our data with and why, please contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below).

    7. How long your personal data will be kept

    We will not keep your personal data for longer than we need it for the purpose for which it is used. Different retention periods apply for different types of personal data. In determining the retention periods we take into account legitimate business purposes, legal requirements, and your possible re-enrolment with our Services.

    Following the end of the of the relevant retention period, we will delete or anonymise your personal data.

    Transferring your personal data out of the UK and EEA

    The EEA, UK and other countries outside the EEA and the UK have differing data protection laws, some of which may provide lower levels of protection of privacy.

    It is sometimes necessary for us to transfer your personal data to countries outside the UK and EEA. In those cases we will comply with applicable UK and EEA laws designed to ensure the privacy of your personal data.

    We will transfer your personal data to our service providers located outside the UK in USA.

    As we are based in the UK we will also transfer your personal data from the EEA to the UK.

    Under data protection laws, we can only transfer your personal data to a country outside the UK/EEA where:

    a) the UK government or European Commission has decided the recipient country ensures an adequate level of protection of personal data (known as an adequacy decision); or

    b) there are appropriate safeguards in place, (eg standard contractual data protection clauses published or approved by the relevant data protection regulator), together with enforceable rights and effective legal remedies for you, or

    c) a specific exception applies under relevant data protection law

    You can contact us (see ‘How to contact us’ below) if you would like a list of countries benefiting from a UK or European adequacy decision or for any other information about protection of personal data when it is transferred abroad.

    8. Cookies and other tracking technologies

    A cookie is a small text file which is placed onto your device (eg computer, smartphone or other electronic device) when you use our website. We use cookies on our website and in our software. These help us recognise you and your device and store some information about your preferences or past actions.

    For further information on cookies, when we will request your consent before placing them and how to disable them, please see our Cookie Policy.

    9. Your rights

    You generally have the following rights, which you can usually exercise free of charge:

    Rights Explanation
    AccessThe right to be provided with a copy of your personal data
    RectificationThe right to require us to correct any mistakes in your personal data
    Erasure (also known as the right to be forgotten)The right to require us to delete your personal data—in certain situations
    Restriction of processingThe right to require us to restrict processing of your personal data—in certain situations, eg if you contest the accuracy of the data
    Data portabilityThe right to receive the personal data you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or transmit that data to a third party—in certain situations
    To objectThe right to object:
    —at any time to your personal data being processed for direct marketing (including profiling);
    —in certain other situations to our continued processing of your personal data, eg processing carried out for our legitimate interests unless we demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests or for establishing, exercising or defending legal claims
    Not to be subject to automated individual decision makingThe right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you
    The right to withdraw consentIf you have provided us with a consent to use your personal data you have a right to withdraw that consent at any time You may withdraw consents by adjusting your preferences in the cookie banner, for cookie preferences, or by contacting us. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of our use of your personal data in reliance on that consent before it was withdrawn

    If you would like to exercise any of those rights, please email us—see below: ‘How to contact us’. When contacting us please:

    a) provide enough information to identify yourself (eg your full name) and any additional identity information we may reasonably request from you, and

    b) let us know which right(s) you want to exercise and the information to which your request relates

    10. Keeping your personal data secure

    We have appropriate security measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed unlawfully. We limit access to your personal data to those who have a genuine need to access it.

    We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

    11. How to complain

    Please contact us if you have any queries or concerns about our use of your personal data (see below ‘How to contact us’). We hope we will be able to resolve any issues you may have.
    You also have the right to lodge a complaint with:

    a) the Information Commissioner in the UK, and

    b) a relevant data protection supervisory authority in the EEA state of your habitual residence, place of work or of an alleged infringement of data protection laws in the EEA

    The UK’s Information Commissioner may be contacted using the details at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or by telephone: 0303 123 1113.

    For a list of EEA data protection supervisory authorities and their contact details see here.

    12. Changes to this privacy policy

    We may change this privacy policy from time to time—when we make significant changes we will take steps to inform you, for example via a link on our website or by email.

    13. How to contact us

    You can contact us by post or email if you have any questions about this privacy policy or the information we hold about you, to exercise a right under data protection law or to make a complaint.

    Our contact details are shown below:

    Manby House, East Chevin Road, Otley, West Yorkshire, England, LS21 3BN
    [email protected]