Privacy

1. Controller

Merguet Werbeagentur GmbH, Augustinerstraße 12, 66119 Saarbrücken, Germany, represented by its Managing Director Hans Merguet. Email: info@merguet.de, phone: +49 681 933 181 56.

2. Hosting and server logs

This website is hosted by active minds GmbH, Felsenrech 17, 66539 Neunkirchen, Germany. When you visit it, the server stores technically necessary data such as your IP address, date and time, the page requested and your browser in log files. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in secure operation (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). The logs are deleted after 14 days.

3. Character-Check

When you request the free Character-Check, we process the image you upload, your details on industry, target audience, tone of voice and preferred language, your name, your company, your email address and, optionally, your website. We use this data to review your request, create a character for you, send you the result by email and arrange a call. The legal basis is the performance of pre-contractual measures at your request (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR).

We only process photos of real people on the basis of the express consent of the person shown (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). The transfer of such photos to AI services outside the EU is additionally based on this express consent (Art. 49(1)(a) GDPR). Consent can be withdrawn at any time with effect for the future by emailing info@merguet.de.

We delete uploaded images and details after 90 days unless an order results. Statutory retention obligations remain unaffected.

We store the image of your finished character on our server for up to six months so that it can be displayed in our email, and delete it afterwards.

4. Use of AI services

To create your character, its voice and an introduction video, we send your image and details to artificial intelligence services. These are currently:

• OpenAI (ChatGPT, image creation): OpenAI Ireland Ltd., Dublin, Ireland, with its parent company OpenAI in San Francisco, USA
• fal (image and video models): Features & Labels, Inc., San Francisco, USA
• Kling (video creation): Kuaishou Technology, Beijing, China; processing takes place on servers in Singapore
• ElevenLabs (voice): Eleven Labs, Inc., New York, USA
• Sync Labs (lip sync): Synchronicity Labs, Inc., San Francisco, USA

Where providers are based outside the EU, data is transferred on the basis of the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (Art. 45 GDPR) if the provider is certified under it, and otherwise on the basis of the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR).

5. Emails

After your request, you will receive a confirmation and later your character by email. These emails are part of the service you requested. We will only send you news if you have given your separate consent (see section 6).

6. Newsletter

If you would like to receive news from Artie Studio, we send it via Brevo (Sendinblue SAS, 17 rue Salneuve, 75017 Paris, France). You can sign up with the Character-Check or with just your email address in the sign-up window on this website. The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR).

We use the double opt-in procedure: after you sign up, we send you an email with a confirmation link via Brevo. Only after you click this link do we add you to our mailing list at Brevo. Until then, we store your sign-up (email address, language, for the Character-Check also name and company, time, IP address only as a check value) on our server for no more than 7 days; unconfirmed sign-ups are then deleted. As proof of your consent, we log the times of sign-up and confirmation, a shortened email address and check values (hashes) of your email and IP address.

Brevo records whether our emails are opened and which links in them are clicked. We use this analysis to improve our news.

You can unsubscribe at any time via the unsubscribe link in every email or by emailing info@merguet.de. Your data is stored until you unsubscribe.

7. Appointment booking

To book a call, we use Google Calendar appointment booking pages (Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland). When you book an appointment, Google processes your name, email address, company and the chosen time. The call takes place as a video call via Google Meet. Data may be transferred to the USA in the process.

8. Contact form

If you write to us using the contact form, we process your name, email address, message and, if provided, your company in order to answer your enquiry. The details are sent to us by email and are not stored on the web server. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR if your enquiry relates to a contract, otherwise our legitimate interest in answering enquiries (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

To prevent misuse, we store a check value (hash) of your IP address and the time of your message for no more than one hour. We delete your message once your enquiry has been dealt with, unless statutory retention obligations apply.

9. Fonts and analytics

Fonts are hosted locally; there is no connection to Google servers.

For anonymous visitor statistics, we use Matomo. Matomo runs on our own server in Germany; no data is passed on to third parties. We have configured Matomo so that no cookies are set and no information is stored in your browser. Your IP address is shortened before it is stored, so it cannot be traced back to you. We record, for example, the pages viewed, time, referring page, device type, browser and language, and whether a form was submitted (without its content). We use this information to improve the website; the legal basis is our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). We delete the raw data after 12 months at the latest.

You can object to the statistics at any time. We remember your choice in your browser’s local storage:

Your visit is currently counted anonymously in our statistics.

Stop counting

Your browser’s storage only remembers which sample images you were shown and whether you have closed notice windows, so that they do not appear again. Most of this is kept in session storage and deleted as soon as you close the tab; the fact that you closed the newsletter sign-up window or signed up through it is kept in local storage so that it does not appear again. This information never leaves your browser. No cookies are set. The legal basis is § 25(2) no. 2 of the German TDDDG.

10. Your rights

You have the right of access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability and objection, as well as the right to withdraw any consent you have given at any time. You can also lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, for example the Unabhängiges Datenschutzzentrum Saarland.