PRIVACY STATEMENT

Your privacy is important to Yamaha Guitar Group, Inc. and its family of brands, which includes Yamaha, Line 6, and Ampeg (“YGG”). We developed this Privacy Policy so you know how we collect, use, share and store your personal information.

This Privacy Policy applies to all YGG-branded, owned, and operated websites, applications (“apps”) and products on which this Privacy Policy is shown. If a YGG website, app or product links to a different privacy policy, then that privacy policy will apply to your use of that site, app or product.

Ways YGG Collects and Uses Personal Information

"Personal Information" is information that, either alone or in combination with other information collected, identifies an individual. When we combine other information (i.e., information that does not, on its own, identify an individual) with Personal Information, we treat the combined information as Personal Information.

When you create a YGG account

When you create an account on a YGG website or mobile app, we ask you to provide Personal Information, including your name and email address. You will use your email address or username and your password to login to your account. Your YGG account will be password-protected. We use your name to help verify your account when you call customer support.

When you log in to your YGG account with social media credentials

You may have the option to log in to your YGG account using your social media login credentials (e.g., your Facebook login credentials). If you choose to do this, when you log in to your YGG account using social media login credentials for the first time, you will be asked whether you agree that the social media provider may provide certain information to YGG, such as your name, email address, profile photo, posts, comments and other information associated with your social media account.

All this information is made available to YGG by the social media provider due to the way the social sign-on configuration works, but of this information, YGG only retains and uses your email address. YGG uses the email address provided by the social media provider to associate it with your YGG account so that you can use your email address to log in to your YGG account in the future if you no longer wish to login using your social media login credentials.

If you do not want your information to be shared with YGG by the social media provider, then you can simply login to the account(s) you maintain on any YGG-owned website using the relevant account login credentials without using your social media login credentials.

When you buy products on a YGG website

If you purchase a product on a YGG site, then YGG will collect Personal Information from you, such as your name, mailing address and telephone number, so that we can process your order and fulfill your purchase. We do not view or store your payment card information. A third party processes customer payment card information when YGG customers use a payment card to make a purchase on a YGG site.

When you communicate with YGG

When you interact with our customer support representatives via email, website chat, telephone, text, or in person, we may collect Personal Information, such as your name, mailing address, phone number, email address and contact preferences; and information about the YGG products you own, such as their serial numbers and date of purchase. We also may create event logs that are useful in diagnosing product or app performance related issues, and capture information relating to the support or service issue. We use this information to provide you with customer and product support. We may access your YGG account in order to assist us in providing you the necessary assistance. To improve customer service, subject to applicable laws, we may also record, monitor, and/or review conversations with customer support representatives, and analyze any feedback provided to us through voluntary customer surveys.

We may use Personal Information to communicate with you, including communicating with you about your account or transactions with us, giving you important information about your products or apps, sending you notice about material changes to this Privacy Policy, and, consistent with applicable laws and the choices available to you as described below under Your Choices regarding Marketing Correspondence, sending you offers and promotions for our products and apps.

Other Uses of Personal Information by YGG

YGG may use Personal Information for internal statistical, marketing or operational purposes, including generating sales reports and measuring and understanding demographic, user interest, purchasing and other trends among our customers.

Entities with which YGG may share personal information

With social network providers

From time to time, we may provide email addresses of selected YGG customers who have opted in to receiving marketing correspondence about YGG products and apps to social network providers, so they can help us display advertisements on the social network pages of other users who share common qualities (e.g., demographics and interests) with the selected YGG customers.

If you sign up to be notified by email when a YGG product or app will be available for purchase, in addition to using your email address to notify you when that product or app becomes available for purchase, we may also provide your email address to social network providers, so they can help us to display advertisements about that product or app on your social network pages.

With service providers

We use third party service providers to help us to administer certain activities on our behalf, such as fulfilling purchases and shipping products, processing credit card payments, sending emails, providing advertisements, analyzing usage of our websites and apps, tracking effectiveness of our marketing campaigns, and allowing users to connect to their social network. We may share Personal Information about you with such third party service providers to the extent necessary for the sole purpose of enabling them to perform services on our behalf.

Examples of third-party service providers we use include e-mail providers and analytics services.

Ad event logs

If you choose to use YGG apps that contain advertisements, we may collect information such as which advertisements were viewed, how often they were clicked and how often certain actions such as saving a coupon or calling or routing to a location corresponding to an advertisement were performed so that the advertising providers can provide you with content and advertising that might be of interest to you.

Other disclosures

We may disclose Personal Information about you to others if we have your consent to do so in such form of consent as may be required under applicable law.

Subject to applicable laws in your jurisdiction, we may also disclose Personal Information about you to others as we believe to be necessary or appropriate: (a) under applicable law or regulation, including laws or regulations outside your country of residence; (b) to comply with legal process; (c) to respond to lawful requests from public authorities and law enforcement officials (including officials outside your country of residence) for purposes such as satisfying national security or law enforcement requirements; (d) to assist or support theft investigations involving YGG products or property, (e) to enforce any of our terms and conditions or policies; (f) to protect our operations or those of any of our affiliates and subsidiaries; (g) to protect the rights, privacy, safety or property of YGG, its affiliates and subsidiaries, you or others; or (h) to permit us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

We may also transfer Personal Information to an affiliate, a subsidiary or a third party in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of YGG's business, assets or stock, including, without limitation, in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceeding.

YGG will require all third parties with whom it shares personal information to safeguard such information consistent with the terms of this Policy by contract obligating the third party to provide at least the same level of protection as is required by the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Principles. Under certain circumstances, YGG may bear liability for onward transfers of personal information from the EU where its designated third parties process personal information inconsistent with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Principles, unless YGG proves that it is not responsible for the event giving rise to the damages.

Ways you may share personal information or consent to YGG sharing your personal information

Message boards, forums

Some YGG websites and apps have message boards, forums, chat functionality, blogs, and similar features through which you can post information, messages and materials. Please note that any information you disclose through such services or otherwise on our sites may become public information and may be available to visitors to the sites and to the general public. We urge you to exercise discretion and caution when deciding to disclose Personal Information, or any other information, on our websites or apps.

Promotions

If you enter a sweepstakes, contest or similar promotion, we may use the information you provide to administer those promotions. To the extent that the terms and conditions of any such promotion regarding the treatment of Personal Information about you conflict with this Privacy Policy, the terms and conditions of the promotion will control.

Cookies and similar technology

To help analyze how you and other visitors navigate YGG websites and compile aggregate statistics about site usage and response rates, we, with assistance from third-party analytics service providers, collect certain information when you visit our site. This information includes IP address, geographic location of the device, browser type, browser language, date and time of your request, time(s) of your visit(s), demographics, page views and page elements (e.g., links) that you click. We may use cookies, pixel tags, web beacons, clear GIF’s or other similar tools on our site or in our email messages to assist us in collecting and analyzing such information. We use this information to provide better, more relevant content on our site, to measure the effectiveness of advertisements, to identify and fix problems, and to improve your overall experience on our site. We may also engage one or more third party service providers to provide online advertisements on our behalf. They may use a pixel tag or other similar technology to collect information about your visits to sites, and they may use that information to send you targeted advertisements. For more information regarding this practice and to opt-out of such collection and use of this information by our third-party service providers, please see http://www.networkadvertising.org/.

If you do not want information collected using these technologies, there is a simple procedure in most browsers that allows you to automatically decline many of these technologies, or to be given the choice of declining or accepting them. In addition, if you reside in a jurisdiction that requires us to obtain your consent to use cookies on our sites then you will have an opportunity to manage your cookie preferences on the sites, except that certain cookies are required to enable core site functionality and you cannot choose to disable those cookies.

Links, third party apps, and third parties’ privacy practices

Our websites, apps and products may contain links to other sites that are not operated by YGG, and our websites or your product may contain apps that you can download from third parties. These linked sites and apps are not under our control and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of any linked sites and apps. If you use any third-party sites or apps, any Personal Information collected by the third party’s site or app will be controlled by the privacy policy of that third party. We recommend that you carefully review the privacy policy of any third parties to which you provide Personal Information.

EU-US Privacy Shield

YGG complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union to the United States.  YGG has certified to the Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles.  If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern.  To learn more about the Privacy Shield program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/

YGG is subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

In compliance with the Privacy Shield Principles, YGG commits to resolve complaints about our collection or use of your personal information.  EU individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our Privacy Shield policy should first contact YGG at:

YAMAHA GUITAR GROUP, INC.

ATTN: LEGAL DEPARTMENT - PRIVACY SHIELD

26580 AGOURA ROAD, CALABASAS, CA 91302

-or-

Email: privacypolicy@yamahaguitargroup.com.

YGG has further committed to refer unresolved Privacy Shield complaints to JAMS, an alternative dispute resolution provider located in the United States. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint from us, or if we have not addressed your complaint to your satisfaction, please visit https://www.jamsadr.com/eu-us-privacy-shield for more information or to file a complaint.  The services of JAMS are provided at no cost to you.

Where applicable to the employment relationship, YGG agrees to cooperate and comply with the EU data protection authorities (DPAs) regarding the unresolved complaints of YGG employees who are located in the EU.  Such employees may direct complaints about their personal information to their respective DPA.  For the contact information for your country’s DPA, please contact us at the address given below.

Security

YGG takes reasonable security measures to help protect against loss, misuse, unauthorized access and unauthorized disclosure or alteration of the Personal Information under its control.

Policy with respect to children

Our websites and apps are not directed to individuals under the age of 13, and we request that individuals under 13 not provide Personal Information to YGG through any YGG website or through our apps. If we learn that we have collected the Personal Information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete the information as soon as possible.

Privacy policy updates

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time as we add new products and apps, as we improve our current offerings, and as technologies and laws change. You can determine when this Privacy Policy was last revised by referring to the "LAST UPDATED" legend at the end of this policy. Any changes will become effective upon our posting of the revised Privacy Policy on our affected websites. We will provide notice to you if these changes are material and, where required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent. This notice will be provided by email or by posting notice of the changes on our affected websites or products/apps, consistent with applicable laws.

Retention of personal information

We will retain your Personal Information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes for which your Personal Information has been collected as outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required by law.

How you can review, correct, update and delete your personal information

YGG takes reasonable steps to help ensure that the Personal Information we collect from you is accurate, complete and current. You may edit your information at https://line6.com/account or https://my.ampeg.com, depending on whether you registered for a Line 6 or Ampeg account (or both). You may request access to your Personal Information and request that erroneous or inaccurate Personal Information be updated. You may also request that your Personal Information and YGG account be deleted. YGG will respond promptly to your requests in accordance with applicable law. For your protection, we may only implement requests with respect to the Personal Information associated with the email address that you use to send us your request, and we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request. We may decline to process requests that jeopardize the privacy of others, are extremely impractical, or would cause us to take any action that is not permissible under applicable laws. Additionally, as permitted by applicable laws, we may need to retain certain Personal Information for a longer period for recordkeeping purposes, such as retaining records relating to your purchases for warranty or accounting purposes.

Access, correction or deletion requests can be made as follows:

U.S. Mail to YAMAHA GUITAR GROUP, INC., ATTN: LEGAL DEPARTMENT, 26580 AGOURA ROAD, CALABASAS, CA 91302.

Email to privacypolicy@yamahaguitargroup.com.

Your California privacy rights

YGG collects various types of personally identifiable information about you during our customer relationship. Under California law, if you are a resident of California, you may make a written request to YGG about how we have shared your information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes. In response to your written request, YGG can provide you with a notice describing the cost-free means to opt-out of our sharing your information with third parties with whom we do not share the same brand name, if the third party will use such information for its direct marketing purposes.

If you would like to exercise your rights under California law, please send your written request to the email address or postal address below. Please include your postal address in your request. Within thirty (30) days of receiving your written request, YGG will provide you with a Third Party Direct Marketing Opt-Out Form, so you may request that your personal information not be disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

U.S. Mail: YAMAHA GUITAR GROUP, INC., Attn: Legal Department, 26580 Agoura Road, Calabasas, CA 91302.

Email: privacypolicy@yamahaguitargroup.com

Dispute resolution

If you feel that YGG is not abiding by its posted privacy policy or is not in compliance with the EU-US Privacy Shield principles, you should first contact YGG at privacypolicy@yamahaguitargroup.com. If you do not receive a timely acknowledgment of your inquiry or your inquiry has not been satisfactorily addressed, you can also submit your inquiry to JAMS, an independent third party (see “EU-US Privacy Shield” above). Finally, as a last resort and in limited situations, EU individuals may seek redress from the JAMS Privacy Shield Panel, a binding arbitration mechanism.

Your choices regarding marketing correspondence

Newsletter Subscription Information - From time to time, we would like to provide you with information in the form of electronic newsletters. You may subscribe to receive electronic newsletters and information, without registering a product, by submitting your email address, phone number, or other relevant information at which you wish to be contacted.

Service Email Links

We may place email links on the Website to allow you to contact us directly. The Personal Information you provide in these email links is used to respond directly to your questions or comments. We may also file your comments to improve the Website, or review and discard the Personal Information. All information, other than Personal Information, that you send to YGG using these email links will not be considered or treated as confidential information. Do not send us any information, ideas, suggestions, proposals, or comments that you consider confidential or that you want to be treated as confidential.

If you opt-in to receiving direct marketing communications from us, then we may use your Personal Information to send you marketing-related correspondence (including emails) related to YGG products or apps. To opt-out of receiving marketing-related correspondence from YGG, please click "Unsubscribe" from any marketing email you receive from YGG.

Last updated September 25, 2018