Intellectual Property & Confidentiality Policy

1. Purpose

This Intellectual Property & Confidentiality Policy describes general ownership and confidentiality principles for materials exchanged or created during a digital marketing engagement with 316 Traffic. A written project agreement may provide more specific terms and will control where it expressly differs from this policy.

2. Client Materials

The client retains ownership of trademarks, logos, photographs, copy, product information, customer data, website materials, campaign history, analytics data, and other content that the client owns and provides to us. The client grants us a limited permission to use those materials solely as reasonably necessary to perform the requested services, administer the engagement, maintain project records, and comply with law.

3. Client Warranty

The client represents that it has the rights and permissions needed to provide and authorize use of its materials. The client should not supply copyrighted images, proprietary data, personal information, email lists, trademarks, or other materials that it is not permitted to use for the intended marketing purpose.

4. Pre-Existing Materials and Know-How

Methods, procedures, templates, frameworks, checklists, prompts, internal documentation, analytical approaches, know-how, reusable code, general marketing knowledge, and other materials developed or acquired independently of a particular client engagement remain the property of their original owner. A client does not obtain ownership of general methods merely because they were used while providing a service.

5. Project Deliverables

Ownership or licensing of custom deliverables may be stated in the project agreement. If no written transfer is stated, the client receives a non-exclusive business-use license to final deliverables created specifically for the client's engagement after applicable fees are paid, excluding third-party materials and pre-existing components. Drafts, rejected concepts, internal working papers, and reusable systems are not automatically transferred.

6. Third-Party Materials

Stock images, fonts, software, plugins, platform templates, advertising assets, data sets, and other third-party materials remain subject to their own licenses. A client must comply with any continuing license restrictions that apply to such material. We cannot transfer rights that a third party has not granted to us.

7. Portfolio Use

We will not represent confidential or unapproved client information as a public case study. Any public use of a client's name, logo, testimonial, non-public metrics, or confidential campaign details should be based on permission or information that the client has already made public. If a written engagement provides different publicity rights, that agreement controls.

8. Confidential Information

Confidential information can include non-public business plans, pricing strategy, customer or prospect information, campaign data, account credentials, access links, unpublished content, financial information, technical information, and other material that a reasonable person would understand to be confidential in the circumstances.

9. Confidentiality Obligations

Each party should use the other party's confidential information only for purposes connected with the engagement, should limit access to people or service providers who reasonably need it, and should use reasonable care to protect it. Confidentiality obligations do not apply to information that is lawfully public, already known without a duty of confidentiality, independently developed without use of the confidential information, or lawfully received from another source without restriction.

10. Required Disclosure

If disclosure is required by law, court order, subpoena, or valid government request, the receiving party may disclose the information to the extent legally required. Where legally permitted and reasonably practical, the receiving party may notify the other party before disclosure so that appropriate protective steps can be considered.

11. Account Security

Clients should use delegated platform access and multi-factor authentication where supported. Master passwords should not be shared when a platform offers safer role-based access. At the end of an engagement, clients should review and revoke access that is no longer required.

12. Return, Deletion, and Retention

Upon reasonable request after an engagement, confidential materials may be returned or deleted when practical, subject to backup systems, legal obligations, accounting requirements, dispute records, and ordinary business archives. We may retain minimal records necessary to document the services provided and transactions completed.

13. No Implied Transfer

Except for rights expressly granted in writing, no intellectual property right is transferred by implication, estoppel, website use, disclosure of information, or participation in a project discussion. Each party retains all rights not expressly granted.