RK9 Labs Privacy Notice

Last Update: March 15, 2024

RK9 Labs, LLC ("RK9," "we," "us" and/or "our") provides an online event registration and management software system, that is used in connection with trading card and video game tournaments (each, an "Event"). This Privacy Notice describes how your personal information is collected, used, and shared when you visit our websites at www.rk9labs.com or rk9.gg (the "Sites"), any sub-domains of the Sites, and various online tools and services (collectively, the "Services").

BY USING THE SITES OR SERVICES, YOU ARE HEREBY CONSENTING TO OUR COLLECTION, USE, DISCLOSURE, TRANSFER AND STORAGE OF INFORMATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS PRIVACY NOTICE.

Our Commitment to You

At RK9, we value and respect your privacy. Privacy considerations are at the core of the way we design and build services and products for you, so that you can fully trust RK9 and take advantage of everything the Services offer. We do not compromise when it comes to your privacy, we seek to be transparent with you in the way we process and manage your personal information, and we work hard to protect your information and keep it secure. This Privacy Notice sets forth how we go about accomplishing our privacy initiatives, and provides you with the information you need to be comfortable that your data is being handled with care.

We encourage you to read this Privacy Notice carefully. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact RK9 directly using the contact information provided below.

What personal information do we collect from our users?

Automatically Collected Information

When you visit the Sites or Services, we automatically collect certain information about your device, including information about your web browser, mobile device, IP address, unique device identifiers, software and hardware attributes (including the type of operating system you use), approximate geographic location, time zone, and some of the cookies that are installed on your device (collectively, “Device Information”).

Additionally, as you browse the Services, we collect information about how you use the Services, such as the date and time you logged in, the individual web pages or products that you view, what websites or search terms referred you to the Services, and information about how you interact with the Services and other users (collectively, "Usage Information").

Information You Provide

Additionally, when you visit or use the Services, we may either require or collect "Personal Information." Personal Information is information that could personally identify you, for example, your name, address, phone number, email address, birthdate, and requested payment information (such as billing address, account number, etc.). Personal Information does not include any data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). For purposes of this notice, your Device Information and Usage Information is included within the discussion of "Personal Information" (unless we clearly state otherwise herein).

In the following instances, we collect and require you to actively submit Personal Information:

In addition, when you participate in an Event, and thereby use the Services, we collect your participation data and may collect raw penalty data (the "Penalty Data"). Similarly, when you create and/or save your raw deck or team list data with any of the Services "List Creators" (the "List Data"), we retain this data. Finally, the Services generate and save online pairing data of you and other participants from each Event (the "Pairing Data"). For the avoidance of doubt, your Penalty Data, List Data, and Pairing Data necessarily includes your Personal Information, and to the extent that it does, such data will be treated in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

Information We Receive or Collect from Other Third Parties or Public Sources

We may receive or collect information about you from third parties and store it on our servers with other information we may have already received or collected from you, such as publicly available information you provided third party platforms or information from third parties we work with, including The Pokémon Company International. RK9 is not responsible for, and will assume no liability, if a business partner or other entity whom you have authorized collects, uses or shares any information about you in violation of its own privacy notice or any applicable laws, rules, or regulations.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use Cookies and similar technologies to enable our systems to recognize your browser/device and to provide certain features. We also collect some Device Information and Usage Information using such technologies.

  1. "Cookies" are data files that are placed on your device or computer and often include an anonymous unique identifier. A cookie may enable the website owner to track how a visitor navigates through its website and the areas in which they show interest. This is similar to a traffic report: it tracks trends and behaviors, but does not identify individuals. Information gathered may include date and time of visits, pages viewed, time spent at the site, and the website visited just before and just after a visit to our Services. Cookies can be set to expire: (1) on a specified date; (2) after a specific period of time; (3) when a transaction has been completed; or (4) when a user turns off his/her Internet browser. A cookie that is erased from memory when a visitor’s Internet browser closes is called a "session" cookie. Cookies that expire based on a time set by the Web server are called "persistent" cookies.
    Our Services may use both "session cookies" and "permanent cookies." Most people do not know that cookies are being placed on their computers when they visit our Service or most websites because browsers are typically set to accept cookies. For more information about cookies, and how to disable cookies, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
  2. "Log files" track actions occurring on the Services, and collect data including your IP address, browser type, Internet service provider, referring/exit pages, and date/time stamps.
  3. "Web beacons," "tags," and "pixels" are electronic files used to record information about how you browse the Services.

We also collect or receive various Usage Information and Device Information from third party analytics providers, such as Google and Facebook, as well as from other advertising networks.

You have a variety of tools available to control the data collected by cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies. For example, you can use controls in your Internet browser to limit how the websites you visit are able to use cookies and to withdraw your consent by clearing or blocking certain non-strictly necessary cookies. Note that if you disable cookies, there may be parts of our Services that may not function properly.

How do we use the information we collect?

We use your Device Information and Usage Information to monitor the usage of our Services, assess its performance, ensure technological compatibility with your computer or mobile device, and understand the relative importance of the information provided on our Services. We may also use this data to conduct statistical analyses on visitors’ usage patterns and other aggregated data. We do this to improve and optimize our Services for you. We also use your Device Information and Usage Information to help us screen for potential risk and fraud (in particular, your IP address).

We use the Personal Information you provide us in order to perform basic business functions in connection with operating the Services and facilitating their availability during Events. This may include communicating with you, processing any requests by you, identifying and fixing any problems with the Services, and otherwise making the Services available to you. Our use of this Personal Information is most commonly based on our legitimate business purposes or other lawful bases set forth below. When we make a decision to use your information for our legitimate interests, we make sure to consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) to ensure that our rights or interests do not override your fundamental rights and interests.

We also use your Personal Information in order to perform the contractual relationship with our users, and where we have your specific consent.

As referenced above, we may use your Personal Information for legitimate business purposes or other lawful bases, including to:

Note that we may process your Personal Information for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

How do we share the information we collect?

We may share your Personal Information with others for the purposes described below:

Without limiting the foregoing, RK9 may share your Personal Information with the following third-parties:

Aggregated Data

We may aggregate and/or de-identify any Personal Information, Usage Information or Device Information that you provide or we collect, such that the information no longer identifies any specific individual. We may use, disclose and otherwise process such information for our own legitimate business purposes – including historical and statistical analysis, reports, marketing, and business planning – without restriction. However, if we combine or connect any aggregated data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat this combined data as Personal Information which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.

Communications

General

When you provide us consent to do so (either upon contacting us through our Services or through our normal marketing communications), we will communicate with you through general marketing communications. You must affirmatively opt-in to receive these communications before you receive them. Currently RK9 does not employ the use of marketing communications, however we may in the future.

Third-party Marketing

We do not share your Personal Information with any company outside the RK9 group of companies (or other third parties listed herein) for marketing purposes.

Opting Out

Regardless of where you live, you may also opt-out of these marketing communications at any time by following the instructions provided in any marketing communication you receive. Please note that even if you opt-out of receiving marketing communications, you may still receive-business related communications, such as transactional emails.

Do Not Track

Please note that we do not alter our Services’ data collection and use practices when we see a Do Not Track signal from your browser.

Your Privacy Choices

You can always opt not to disclose information to us, but keep in mind some information may be needed to create an account and to use certain features of our Services.

Note that RK9 cannot control or guarantee these rights with regard to Personal Information obtained by third parties who have requested and received your Personal Information through our Services and with your consent.

If you are a registered user of the Services, you can modify certain Personal Information or account information by signing in and accessing your account profile. The information you can view, update, and delete may change as the Services change.

If you wish to close your account, please file a ticket at support.rk9.gg. RK9 will use reasonable efforts to promptly delete your account and the information contained within. Previously published event information is not considered part of a user's account, and is therefore not deleted. Please note, however, that RK9 reserves the right to retain information from closed accounts, including to comply with law, prevent fraud, resolve disputes, enforce the Agreement and take other actions permitted by law.

You must promptly notify us if any of your account data is lost, stolen or used without permission.

GDPR and CCPA, and other similar Data Privacy Laws

Depending on where you live, you may have certain rights to your Personal Information as a result of privacy laws around the world, such as the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as well as similar laws in Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and Virginia). If those laws apply to you, RK9 gives you the choice of accessing, editing, or removing certain information, as well as choices about how we contact you. You may change or correct your RK9 account information through your account profile. You may also remove certain optional information that you no longer wish to be available through the Services. Note that some information may be required by certain features of our Services. You can also request to permanently close your account and delete your personal information. Depending on your location, you may also benefit from a number of rights with respect to your information. While some of these rights apply generally, certain rights apply in limited cases.

  1. Right to Access & Portability: You can access certain Personal Information associated with your account by visiting your account profile. You can request a copy of your personal information in an easily accessible format and information explaining how that information is used.
  2. Right to Correction: You have the right to request that we rectify inaccurate information about you. By visiting your account profile, you can correct and change certain personal information associated with your account.
  3. Right to Restrict Processing: In certain cases where we process your information, you may also have the right to restrict or limit the ways in which we use your personal information.
  4. Right to Deletion: In certain circumstances, you have the right to request the deletion of your personal information, except information we are required to retain by law, regulation, or to protect the safety, security, and integrity of RK9.
  5. Right to Object: If we process your information based on our legitimate interests as explained above, or in the public interest, you can object to this processing in certain circumstances. In such cases, we will cease processing your information unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue processing or where it is needed for legal reasons. Where we use your personal data for direct marketing purposes, you can object using the unsubscribe link in such communications.
  6. Right to Withdraw Consent: Where we rely on consent, you can choose to withdraw your consent to our processing of your information using specific features provided to enable you to withdraw consent, like an email unsubscribe link. This is without prejudice to your right to generally permanently close your account and delete your personal information.

If you are a resident of California, the CCPA provides you the following additional rights:

  1. Right to Know: if you are a California resident, you may request disclosure of the specific pieces and/or categories of personal information that we have collected about you, the categories of sources for that personal information, the business or commercial purposes for collecting the information, the categories of personal information that we have disclosed about you, and the categories of third parties with which the information was shared.
  2. Right to Opt-Out: To the extent that RK9 "sells" personal information (as that term is defined under the CCPA), California residents are entitled to opt-out of the "sale" of data at any time (see below for more information) by filing a ticket at support.rk9.gg. At this time, RK9 does not sell any personal information to any party.
Our Response Time To Your Request

We will make every effort to respond to your request within forty-five (45) days from when you contacted us. If you have a complex request, and when permitted to do so under the applicable law, we may be allowed up to ninety (90) days to respond. We will still contact you within forty-five (45) days from when you contact us to let you know we need more time to respond and the reason for the extension.

Your Right To Appeal

If we decline to take actions regarding a request that you have submitted, we will inform you of our reason for declining to take action and provide instructions for how to appeal the decision. In the event that we do not respond to a request that you make pursuant to one of the privacy rights set forth in this section, you have the right to appeal our refusal to take actions within a reasonable period of time after you receive our decision. Within sixty (60) days of our receipt of an appeal, we will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decision.

No Charge

We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your Personal Information request unless it is excessive, repetitive and or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.

No Discrimination

RK9 will not discriminate against any consumer for exercising their rights under GDPR, the CCPA, or any similar data protection laws.

If you are unable to exercise any of the rights in this section from your account, please contact RK9 with details of your concerns or requests by filing a ticket at support.rk9.gg.

How Long We Retain Your Information

We retain Personal Information about you for as long as you have your account with us or as otherwise necessary to provide you the Services. In some cases, we retain Personal Information for longer, if doing so is necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes or collect fees owed, prevent fraud, enforce our Terms of Service of this Privacy Notice, or as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law, rule or regulation. Afterwards, we retain some information in a depersonalized or aggregated form but not in a way that would identify you personally.

Please note, RK9 does not dictate how long third parties retain your Personal Information obtained through our Services. Each of those parties will have their own privacy policies and retention periods and you should review those policies.

Personal Information Transfer and Storage

If you reside outside of the United States, please note that your Personal Information will be transferred outside of your home country, including to the United States where it is stored. When we transfer your information to the U.S., we will protect it as described in this Privacy Notice. Through your use of the Services, you consent to the processing and storage of your Personal Information in this manner. We also are working to incorporate appropriate safeguards to protect any information shared with any third party processors identified herein. We further will make best efforts to protect information from EU residents in accordance with applicable law.

When you provide information to us, you understand and agree that RK9 will retain your Personal Information as long as is necessary and relevant for our operations, and in accordance with applicable laws.

How We Protect Your Information

We strive to maintain internal controls and procedures to ensure that the information you share with us is handled in a safe, secure and responsible manner. We have security measures to help protect against loss, unauthorized access and alteration of the information in our control. We will only disclose such information to employees and authorized service providers who require such information for the purposes described in this Notice. Our databases are protected by physical, technical, and procedural measures that restrict access to authorized persons in accordance with this Notice. Although no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed 100% secure, and we cannot ensure against any loss, misuse, unauthorized disclosure, alteration, or destruction of data, we take reasonable precautions to prevent such unfortunate occurrences. Nevertheless, we cannot and do not guarantee that information you post on or transmit to the Services will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.

Third-Party Service Providers and Third-Party Links

Any third parties to whom we may disclose Personal Information (identified herein) have their own privacy policies which describe how they use and disclose your Personal Information. Those policies will govern use, handling and disclosure of your personal information once we have shared it with those third parties as described in this Privacy Notice. RK9 has no responsibility or liability for the activities of these third parties. If you want to learn more about their privacy practices, we encourage you to visit the websites of those third parties.

When you click on links on our Services that take you to third-party websites, you will be subject to the third parties' privacy policies. While we support the protection of privacy on the Internet, we cannot be responsible for the actions of any third-party websites. We encourage you to read the posted privacy policies of any and every website you visit, whether you are linking from our Services or browsing on your own.

Personal Information About Children

Our Services are targeted primarily for use by adults. Accordingly, we do not knowingly collect age identifying information, nor do we knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of 13 years without parental consent provided in the form of payment via credit/debit card. However, we hereby advise all visitors to our sites under the age of 13 not to disclose or provide any personally identifiable information on our Services without parental consent. If you are concerned that Personal Information may have been inadvertently provided to or collected by RK9, please contact us immediately so appropriate steps may be taken to remove such information from RK9’s database.

Changes to this Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to our practices or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. We suggest that you review the current Privacy Notice at the start of each visit to our Services. Unless we clearly express otherwise, we will use Personal Information in accordance with the Privacy Notice then in effect. YOU ARE HEREBY ADVISED THAT YOUR CONTINUED USE OF OUR SERVICE CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF ANY AMENDMENTS TO AND THE MOST RECENT VERSION OF THIS PRIVACY NOTICE.

Suspected Violations

If at any time you believe we have not adhered to the policies and principles set forth in this Privacy Notice, please notify us using the contact information provided below. We will make all commercially reasonable efforts to promptly respond to your concerns.

Contact Us

If you have any questions or comments concerning our Privacy Notice, please submit your inquiry along with your current contact information to: