Ansys Global Privacy Notice

Last updated July 7, 2023

I.             Introduction

ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates take seriously the protection of your Personal Data (generally meaning information and data that can identify you as a person, and as defined and explained further in Section III below). ANSYS, Inc. is a United States corporation, incorporated in the state of Delaware, United States of America, located at 2600 Ansys Dr., Canonsburg, PA 15317.

This Global Privacy Notice (“Notice”) applies to all Personal Data we process about you, your household, or your device (collectively, “you”), including: (a) information collected on www.ansys.com and any other related sites, applications or platforms (including mobile access) where this Notice is linked (collectively, the “Sites”); and (b) information provided by you when you request information related to Ansys or Ansys services and products, and information provided or made available to us through your actions (such as when you purchase, download, or use Ansys products or applications, interact with us on social media, register or attend an Ansys or third-party event, request information about our services or products, email us, or download whitepapers or other Ansys content) (collectively with the Sites, the ”Services”). This Notice explains how we collect, use, retain, and share (“Process” or “Processing”) your Personal Data and what rights you have relating to your Personal Data. If any additional terms govern the Processing of Personal Data, we will provide you with additional information or notice at that time.

By visiting the Sites or by using the Services, you acknowledge the practices described in this Notice, which was last updated on the date listed above. We may occasionally revise this Notice. Remember, it is in your interest to periodically review this Notice and to understand these terms. If you have questions, please contact privacy@ansys.com; we love discussing these topics!   

II.            Who are we?

When this Notice refers to “Ansys”, or “we”, “us” or “our”, this includes ANSYS, Inc. and its family of related subsidiaries and affiliates located throughout the world. You may find a list of current affiliates here. Additionally, Ansys has many: (a) “Service Providers,” which may Process your Personal Data on behalf of Ansys when providing services to Ansys that are contractually limited in their usage of your Personal Data; (b) “Third Party Sellers,” which are unrelated companies selling third party products on an Ansys hosted site (including the Ansys Store at https://catalog.ansys.com); (c) “Business Partners,” which are un-related companies that Ansys engages with for specific business purposes or solutions like co-development, co-management, co-presenting, co-sponsoring, distributing, etc., and (d) “Channel Partners” which are un-related companies that are authorized resellers of Ansys Services (Business Partners and Channel Partners are collectively referred to as “Partners”).    

III.           What information do we collect?

For the purposes of this Notice, "Personal Data" means information that, either separately or together with other identifying information, can identify you as an individual.

Most Personal Data we Process is provided directly by you when you register for, you access, or you use the Services. This information may include:

• contact information – full name, email address, physical mailing address and country, telephone number, and username;
• professional information – company name, department, job title, job description and related information, such as job function or reporting structure; company details, such as the size or number of employees; professional or trade publications to which you subscribe and related trainings attended;
• account registration data - a unique password, which may be paired with an activation code specific to the license(s) you have purchased or are entitled to use;
• commercial transaction information – the types of Services that interest you and that you have purchased; your purchasing requirements;
• financial information - billing and payment information;

• responses to surveys – information you provide in responding to a survey (including on a Site, via an app, social media, email, on the telephone, or otherwise), testimonials or other feedback related to the Services, which may be paired with your account, name, title, and/or company name; or comments or posts you publish on any Sites or linked to your Ansys User Account.license fulfillment and verification information – for certain Services, we may collect and pair device information together with your Ansys User Account or registered email address in order to manage active licenses associated with you or your account; and our license verification may require us to compare this device ID and account data against active licenses using an internet connection to your device, both at activation and as part of a regular refresh function for license terms (more details can be found in the license terms and product descriptions for individual Services);
• analytical data –
  • when using our Services, certain de-identified analytics data, such as feature usage, account segmentation information, license usage information, and error information, may be communicated back to us for product improvement purposes; and
  • for some Services, Ansys may collect Personal Data related to your use of the Product, however, you will need to expressly opt-in to the collection of such data in order to receive additional offerings, such as insights into your usage of licensed products and to assist with troubleshooting for customer support;
• location information - location signals originating from a device (where enabled); location information received or derived from social media networks, sensor or IP address data; and the city, state/province zip code or country from which a request is received;

We may receive your Personal Data indirectly by providing you with additional information through certain notices or banners. If this information is received by a third party, such as a social media platform, the latter is responsible for providing you with this information. Such Personal Data may include:

• cookies, pixels and beacons - information from cookies, web beacons, pixels, or from the internet, including your IP address, browser type, operating system, domain name, access times, which pages you visit within a Site, referring website addresses, how you use a Site (including the types of products and events that interest you, how you navigate through a Site, and articles you download); For additional information, please see our full Cookie Policy;
• usage information - information related to your access and use of our cloud-hosted Services including access logs, usage time, metadata, and other information necessary to determine fees incurred through the usage of such Services;
• preferences - information related to your industry, your preferred communication type and types of Services that may interest you based on your activity on the Sites or use of the Services;
• IP address, device identifiers, Internet activity, and Services log data - which may also be linked to your username, account or registered email address, to enable our license compliance Process and for support purposes;
• social media – we may receive Personal Data about you when you connect with another site (such as Facebook, WeChat, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), and you may check your settings and review any data sharing polices of these sites; These sites are responsible to notify you for any sharing of your Personal Data;
• chat and call records – support logs, transcripts, and recordings and playbacks of any calls, videos, or chats for fraud detection, quality assurance, product improvements, sales, and training purposes;
• licensing - data regarding any unlicensed, theft or unauthorized access to or use of Services; and
• marketing – communications, and patterns of those communications.

• event participation - information provided when you sign up for a sponsored, co-sponsored, or hosted event, webinar or when you access premium content (such as white papers, infographics, case studies, application brief, data sheet, etc.) including full name, job title or function, company name, department, email address, physical mailing address and country, telephone number, and event registration details; or
• purchase information – information provided when you purchase or register for the Services through an authorized re-seller, including your contact information, certain professional information, and products purchased.
• publicly accessible information - information publicly available on professional networking sites, trade groups, or social media, which may include your full name, job title or function, company name, industry, email address, physical mailing address and country, and telephone number.

Personal Data may be de-identified for certain business purposes that identification is not necessary; we maintain this data in de-identified form and do not attempt to re-identify you from such data.

IV.          Legal bases and purposes of the use of your information

Our primary purpose in the Processing of your Personal Data is the rendering of our Services to you or your employing entity. This also includes the Processing of your Personal Data to facilitate the sale/licensing and delivery of the Services to you or your employing entity, provide you or your employing entity with the Services, and for purposes related to optimizing your or your employing entity’s use of the Services. In these cases, the legal bases for the use of your Personal Data by Ansys will be that Processing is necessary for the fulfillment of our contractual obligations towards you or your employing entity or to take steps at the request of you or your employing entity (in the latter case we can reasonably rely on your employing entity acting within their legal possibilities when instructing you to get in contact with Ansys) (“Performance of Contract”). We may also Process certain Personal Data to pursue our legitimate interests in carrying out our business, including to grow and improve our Services, and to optimize your experience with our Services or in ensuring lawful use of our Services provided that those interests are not outweighed by your rights and interests (''Legitimate Interests''). On rare occasions or when this is required by applicable laws Processing is based on your prior, explicit consent ("Consent"). In specific instances, we may also have a legal obligation to Process your Personal Data ("Legal Obligation"). Where the Processing of your Personal Data is based on your Consent, you have the right to withdraw the Consent, without such withdrawal affecting the legitimacy of the Processing occurred so far. As permitted by applicable law, we may Process your Personal Data for legitimate secondary purposes, such as statistical analysis, research or archiving, implementing industry-approved safeguards.

More specifically, purposes of use of Personal Data can be attributed to the following legal bases:

Performance of contract (or of steps at the request of you or your employing entity):

• To perform or ensure proper performance of any contractual arrangements between you or your employing entity and Ansys (e.g. license agreements).
• To fulfil or meet the reason you provided the Personal Data (including in the course of the performance of your employment relationship with your employing entity).
• To provide the information, Services or support and related after-sales Services and maintenance and improvement.
• To identify you and to contact you with Service updates, training or support options related to Services you or your employing entity have purchased.
• To plan, perform, and manage our relationship with you or your employing entity and to carry out any related administration.

Legitimate Interests (unless prohibited by law):

• To identify you for the purposes of ensuring compliance with the terms of license agreements and tackling software piracy.
• To create, maintain, customize, support and secure your or your employing entity’s account(s) with us.
• To send communication related to the Services, including using email, SMS, and social media platforms.
• To detect fraud and pursue information security purposes.
• To monitor our sales and Services.
• To help maintain the safety, security, integrity and update of our Services, databases, technology assets, and business.
• To improve, tailor and personalize our Services .

• To preserve accuracy and to verify information with third parties as needed (such as export compliance).
• To enforce this Notice, and our policies, terms of use, license agreements and other provisions related to the Services.
• To carry out research, including market research, statistical research on site traffic, sales and other commercial information to improve our Services.  
• To evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding.

Consent:

• To provide personalized, targeted, or location-based content, communication, services, and advertising from us, our Affiliates or Partners.
• To market and promote our Services or the services of our Partners.

Legal Obligation:

• To identify you or your employing entity for compliance purposes, including usage, export and licensing.
• To detect, investigate and prevent activity potentially illegal, unlawful or harmful, as permitted or required by applicable law.
• To identify you and verify that both the Services and your or your employing entity’s use of the Services are appropriately licensed. As permitted by applicable law if we have information that any Services are unlicensed, we may also share data with other companies and organizations as well as with law enforcement or other regulatory or investigative bodies as necessary to counter software theft.

V.           With whom do we share your information and for what purposes?

As permitted or required by applicable law, Ansys may share your Personal Data with the following parties:

• Intercompany transfers:

As a group of companies located in various countries across the world with headquarters in the United States, Ansys may exchange Personal Data among its group companies to pursue its business purposes, facilitate effective and consistent governance of Personal Data, enforce uniform policies and Processes with regard to the accuracy, integrity and security of such data and satisfy its accountability obligations. The access to such data either on local,  regional, or central level is structured on a need-to-know basis depending on the company’s needs. Ansys imposes intercompany contractual arrangements to all group companies, adopts security measures and takes necessary steps to further lawfulness of the data transfers and meet its corresponding obligations under applicable laws (e.g., adoption of certain transfer methods for restricted cross-border transfers).

• Third Parties:

We may disclose your Personal Data to third parties to enforce our policies, to comply with our legal obligations or in our legitimate interests of security, fraud, public interest or in response to requests by law enforcement, regulatory, judicial or government authorities. We may also disclose certain Personal Data in connection with actual or proposed litigation, or to protect our property, security, people and other legitimate rights or interests as allowed by law.

As part of the provision certain Services, Ansys may make certain information related to your access and usage of the Services, including records of courses taken and access logs to your employer, contractor (i.e., the entity or individual that submits the order governing your access to the Services), or party providing you access.

In such cases, Ansys seeks to share the minimum Personal Data necessary to fulfil the purpose(s) of sharing. When applicable, Ansys puts contractual obligations on these third parties with regard to confidentiality (if such parties are not subject to legal obligation of confidentiality), and lawful and secure Processing of Personal Data.

While interacting with us, you may have the opportunity to consent to receive information and/or marketing offers, or to otherwise consent to the sharing of your Personal Data, including social media sites. If you provide consent, your Personal Data will be used and shared as described when you provided consent, and it will be governed by the privacy notices and business practices of any disclosed parties.

• Service Providers:

We share your Personal Data with our Service Providers who may be involved with various Processing activities, such as: (a) hosting of our web servers, (b) data analysis about how our Services are used, (c) delivery and monitoring of marketing initiatives, (d) providing customer support services; enforcement of license terms and our anti-piracy program, or (f) payment processors. All Service Providers collect or have access to your Personal Data only as needed to perform the Service and are limited in their usage of your Personal Data for other purposes.

We may use Google Analytics or Adwords on our Sites to gather statistics on site usage. This may involve the use of cookies, as outlined further by our Cookie Policy. Google may aggregate data it collects from these services together with data collected across other Services, including Google Analytics, Google Translate, Google Maps and YouTube. Please read Google's privacy policy and account settings with respect to data collected and used by Google across its services.

• Business Partners:

When we: (a) collect your Personal Data that may be shared with any Business Partners; or (b) co-collect your Personal Data together with our Business Partners, additional notice will be provided at that time further explaining each party’s collection practices. For example, when you select a hyperlink from a Site or advertisement from us or one of our Business Partners, general purchase information, contact information, and details about how you use the site, may be shared with both parties to analyze and improve delivery of services, customer experience, and marketing initiatives.

• Channel Partners:

Depending on your geographic location or product interest, we may disclose limited Personal Data to Channel Partners to facilitate the sale and delivery of the Services to you. Channel Partners are authorized resellers of Ansys Services.  

• Third-Party Sellers:

We may disclose your Personal Data to Third Party Sellers when you purchase, register, or download a Third-Party Seller product or service from the Sites, including the Ansys Store. Any information shared with a Third-Party Seller will be limited to your contact information and information regarding the Third-Party Seller product purchased or registered for via the Sites. When we collect your Personal Data that may be shared with a Third-Party Seller additional notice will be provided at that time further explaining the Processing of your Personal Data.

• Acquisition Companies:

If we or any of our subsidiaries are sold, or some of our assets transferred to a third party, your Personal Data may also be transferred to such third party. The recipient will be contractually obligated to protect your Personal Data and Process your Personal Data according to certain Processing purposes and methods. When required, we will inform you of the name and contact information of the recipient.  

Our customer database could be sold separately from the rest of the business, in whole or in part. Potential purchasers and their advisors may have limited access to company data that includes Personal Data as part of a transaction. However, use of your Personal Data will remain subject to this Notice. Similarly, your Personal Data may be shared with a successor in interest in the unlikely event of a liquidation or bankruptcy proceedings.

Regarding Personal Data collected in the territorial scope of the European Union’s (EU) General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”) or the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) Personal Information Protection Law (“PIPL”), international transfers of Personal Data comply with such laws, including by concluding data processing agreements with such parties, where necessary. If you have questions in this regard or wish to see the legal instruments in place for specific third parties, please contact privacy@ansys.com.

VI.          Third-party links

Services may contain links or references to third parties' websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third-party sites and services, even where we provide links or references for your convenience. Please read the policies and terms of use for any third party before using the site or services.

The servers used by third-party sites, including social media sites, may not be secure. Despite reasonable security measures taken by Ansys and our Service Providers, use of the internet is not secure and unlawful or unauthorized access to private transmissions or data is possible.

VII.         How do we protect your information?

In considering the types of data we collect and the data activities we undertake in delivering the Services, we have implemented reasonable and appropriate physical, technical and organizational measures to guard against unauthorized or unlawful access to your Personal Data. While no system is completely secure, we believe our measures reduce potential vulnerability to a level appropriate to the types of data Processed.

In addition to our security measures, it remains your responsibility to protect your Personal Data by taking the following steps:

• where you have established an Ansys User Account, protect your unique password and username and do not use the same access credentials for other sites and services you may use;
• ensure that you log out of your Ansys User Account when finished;
• do not use unknown or unsecured Wi-Fi or shared access connections to enter or transmit Personal Data, including passwords and other access credentials;
• maintain good internet security, and promptly notify us if you believe your Ansys User Account or any accounts you have linked to your Ansys User Account have been compromised; and
• as with most information shared on the internet, please remember that information you share on the Site, such as by commenting on a blog post, may be indexable by search engines, including Google, which may mean that the information is made public.
• The Services do not require nor request sensitive Personal Data as it may be defined per jurisdiction. It is your responsibility to not post confidential or sensitive data while using any of our Services. If you do so for any reason and as permitted by any of our Services, Ansys handles such data with due care, implementing technical and organizational security measures according to business standards.

VIII.        Where is your Personal Data Processed?

Your Personal Data may be Processed and stored on our servers or on the servers of our Service Providers, in the United States or elsewhere. This means that when we collect your Personal Data, we may transfer and Process this data in other countries, including countries other than the country in which you reside (including the EU and the PRC). While your Personal Data may be transferred to countries with data protection laws that differ from those that apply in your country, and in some cases may be less protective, we will take steps to ensure that your Personal Data is transferred and handled in compliance with applicable laws and this Notice. As necessary, we have implemented appropriate safeguards, including contractual obligations and approved data transfer mechanisms as required by law, such as the GDPR and PIPL Standard Contractual Clauses, where applicable, with our Service Providers and Partners with whom we share Personal Data. By using our Services, you acknowledge and consent to this Processing, unless such consent is not permitted by or not valid pursuant to applicable law. If you have questions about these practices, please contact privacy@ansys.com.

IX.           What are cookies, web beacons and clear GIFs and why do we use them?

We use cookies and similar tracking technology (collectively, "Cookies") to collect and use information about you to personalize your experience using the Site, for various business analytics to improve our Services, and to deliver interest-based advertising. For further information about the types of Cookies we use, why, and how you can control use of Cookies on our Site, please see our Cookie Policy.

X.            Do-Not-Track

The Services do not use technologies that respond to 'Do-Not-Track' signals communicated by your internet browser.

XII.          Marketing communications

We use third-party marketing services to send and track receipt of communications to our customers generally, and to analyze the pattern of those communications for trust and security purposes, as well as to gather data, such as inquiry and use data, to continue the marketing and promotion of Services that may interest to you, develop and send relevant communications based on your interaction with Ansys and displayed interest in Ansys Services, and assist us in better understanding our customers' interests generally.

Υour Personal Data may be used to send you marketing information in accordance with the marketing preferences you select when providing your information. You may opt-out of receiving electronic marketing communications at any time by clicking the "unsubscribe" link located in each electronic marketing communication. If you change your marketing preferences, it may take a short time for those preferences to become effective. Please remember, we have many options available to opt-in to receive different types of marketing communications, each with its unique opt-out path on the bottom of its communications. Meaning, if you elect to opt-out of receiving communications from the Ansys blog by selecting the “unsubscribe” button on the footer of the email, you may still receive communications from event marketing because that is a separate marketing communication for which you opted-in. If you desire to also opt-out of Ansys event marketing, you simply must select the “unsubscribe” button on the footer of that email.

By opting out of marketing communications, you will continue to receive communications (including emails) related to your User Account and the Services, including product updates, trainings, and communications related to billing, maintenance, and support.

XIII.         How long do we keep your information?

Notwithstanding any Data Subject Rights outlined below, we retain your Personal Data only as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Notice, as stated in our internal retention policies and schedules, or as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law, such as to comply with recordkeeping and other legal obligations. When permitted by applicable law, we may retain pseudonymized data for secondary purposes such as statistical analysis, research or archiving. At the end of the applicable retention period, we may delete or anonymize your Personal Data, or, if deletion or anonymization is not possible or reasonable (for example, because your Personal Data has been stored in back-up archives), we will securely store your Personal Data separate from any further Processing until deletion, anonymisation or destruction is possible. There may also be residual information that will remain within our backup files, databases, and other records, which will not be deleted or changed, except in accordance with retention policies.

XIV.        Data Subject Rights

Many countries and jurisdictions, including the US, EU and PRC, impose specific legal requirements and rights with respect to Personal Data. As required by applicable law, we will comply with restrictions and any requests you submit. As a data subject (or a consumer pursuant to US state privacy laws, collectively referred to as “Individuals” and each as “Individual”) you may have one or more of the following rights according to applicable law:

• To request correction of inaccurate Personal Data;
• To request additional information about our data collection, use, and disclosure practices in connection with your Personal Data;
• To access certain Personal Data;
• To delete certain Personal Data;
• To object to certain Processing (such as direct marketing);
• To request that we restrict certain Processing; or
• To request portability of Personal Data.

You may be able to use the Services to access and update the information that you have provided to us through your use of the Services or otherwise. If you would like to make a request to invoke your privacy rights, you may complete this form, contact privacy@ansys.com or call us at 833-706-0272. We will comply with requests you submit as required by applicable law.

If you elect to not use the above form, please ensure that your request provides enough detail to allow us to properly understand and respond to your inquiry.

Once we receive your request, we must validate your identity, which includes:

• For rights 4, 5, and 6 listed above: (a) Full Name and Physical Address; and (b) Email address and access to this email account.
• For rights 3 and 7: (a) Full Name and Physical Address; (b) Email address and access to this email account; and (c) details relating to your recent purchase, contact, or other engagement with Ansys.

When you make a request, we may require that you follow procedures so that we can verify a request and your jurisdiction before responding to it. The verification steps we take may differ depending on your jurisdiction and the request you make. We will match the information that you provide in your request to information we already have on file to verify your identity. If we are able to verify your request, we will process it. If we cannot verify your request, we may ask you for additional information to help us verify your request.

Certain privacy laws permit Individuals to use an authorized agent to make privacy rights requests. We require the authorized agent to provide us with proof of the Individual’s written permission (for example, a power of attorney) that shows the authorized agent has the authority to submit a request for the Individual. An authorized agent must follow the process described below to make a request, and we will additionally require the authorized agent to verify his/her own identity and we will confirm the agent’s authority with the Individual about whom the request was made.

We will respond to your request within the time period required by applicable law. However, we may not always be able to fully comply with your request, and we will notify you in that event. Also, if we need additional time or are unable to provide a response, we will explain why. Most responses will occur via email. We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. 

We respond to requests in accordance with applicable data protection laws. We may refuse requests that are unreasonably repetitive, require disproportionate technical effort, risk the privacy of others, may compromise and ongoing investigation, or are impractical. It is our policy to never discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights. If we Process your Personal Data based on your Consent, you may withdraw your Consent at any time. Please note, withdrawing Consent does not affect the lawfulness of any Processing of Personal Data that relied upon Consent prior to our receipt of your request or Processing that relies on a different legal ground.

For residents in the European Economic Area, you may have the right to complain to a data protection authority about our Processing of your Personal Data. For more information, please contact your local data protection authority.

XV.         Disabilities

If you use assistive technology (such as a Braille reader, a screen reader, or TTY) and the format of any material on the Sites interferes with your ability to access information or perform any functions, please contact compliance@ansys.com. To enable us to respond in a way most helpful to you, please describe the nature of your accessibility problem, the preferred format in which to receive the material, the specific web address of the requested material, and your contact information.

XVI.        Children

We do not knowingly Process data from children, and the Services are not directed to children as defined according to the age limits of each jurisdiction. If you learn that your child has provided us with Personal Data without your consent, you may alert us at privacy@ansys.com.  

XVII.       How do you contact us?

If you have questions about this Notice, please direct your inquiry to:

Legal Department:

ANSYS, Inc.

Attn: Global Privacy Officer

2600 Ansys Dr.

Canonsburg, PA 15317

Tel: 855-729-0134

Email: privacy@ansys.com    

XVIII.      Special Provisions

The following provisions are applicable to: (a) residents of the specifically named geographies; or (b) specific situations, as outlined below, in which these provisions supersede any conflicting general statements made above.

Provisions applicable to Ansys License Compliance

As outlined in your or your employing entity’s Service agreement and/or Software License Agreement, Ansys may Process certain Personal Data to ensure compliance with the terms of those agreements and verify that both the Service and your or your employing entity’s use of the Services are appropriately licensed. Ansys will collect and use such Personal Data to determine if modifications to certain code files of the Services have been made or if there is suspected or confirmed unauthorized access to or use of the Services. Ansys’ Processing of such Personal Data for such purposes includes (i) the transfer of such Personal Data to certain Ansys Affiliates, Service Providers, and Technology Providers (each as defined in the applicable service agreement), and (ii) Ansys and our Affiliates, Service Providers, and Technology Providers collection, use, and storage of such Personal Data to administer and enforce our license compliance program.  

A current list of Service Providers and Technology Providers involved in license compliance can be obtained by emailing licensecompliancerequests@ansys.com.

For a listing of current Ansys Affiliates click here.

Provisions applicable to Web Licensing Service

As part of the Web Licensing Services Ansys will Process the following limited Personal Data: (a) user email address and username, (b) hostname (including IP address and MAC address) of the machine from which the user is using the Web Licensing Service, and (c) usage information (including accessibility-related information and active process-related information) relating to Ansys software that has been accessed through the Web Licensing Service. Ansys will Process such information to (i) provide the service, (ii) improve product performance, resource allocation, and support, and (iii) analyze, support, and/or optimize your or your employing entity’s use of Ansys Services. 

Provisions applicable to United States Residents by their applicable state government

Consistent with US state privacy laws: (a) job applicants, current and former employees, and independent contractors (collectively, “Personnel”); and (b) subjects of business-to-business communications acting solely as representatives of another business (collectively, “Business Representatives”), are not currently considered consumers for purposes of this Notice. Ansys is largely a “B2B Business,” meaning that it provides Services to mainly other businesses rather than to individuals directly. If you are a Business Representative or considered Personnel under a U state privacy law, many of the Individual’s privacy rights described in this Notice may not apply to you, and compliance relating to these areas may be addressed separately from this Notice.

For purposes of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), Personal Information does not include publicly available information or de-identified or aggregated information. We do not currently, and we have no current plans to begin “selling” or “sharing” (as defined in the CCPA) your Personal Data. You may opt-out of any future selling of certain Personal Data by contacting privacy@ansys.com. When making this request, please include your full name, address and specific request.

Within the previous twelve (12) months, we have collected the following categories of Personal Data (the “Categories”) for a business purpose, and we may have disclosed: (a) categories A through H (listed below); and (b) your Personal Data, to Service Providers and vendors aiding us in monitoring fraud, misuse and illegal activity.

Shine the Light:

California's "Shine the Light" law (Civil Code Section § 1798.83) permits users of our Services that are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please send an email to privacy@ansys.com.

Provisions applicable to the Ansys Innovation Space:

Ansys Innovation Space is your center for the ever-expanding offering of innovation courses, learning forum, certifications, simulation software, jobs, career advice, and learning resources designed for all learners to create, collaborate, and connect. Users do not require an account to access the Ansys Innovation Space, however, to post in the Learning Forum, join groups, or interact with other users and topics in the Learning Community, you must first create an Ansys ID account. Ansys only requires your first and last name and your email to create an Ansys ID, however, you may choose to provide additional information and build out your user profile in the Ansys Innovation Space. Please be aware that any information you chose to add to your user profile will be publicly available. Ansys Processes such Personal Data to (i) perform required compliance activities (including export and license checks), (ii) manage the Ansys Learning Forum and the Learning Community, (iii) improve the Ansys Innovation Space, and (iv) identify industry trends and developments.

Provisions applicable to Ansys Innovation Courses:

To provide and maintain the Ansys Innovations Course sites and their related offerings (the “AIC Sites”), Ansys Processes certain Personal Data related to you. The Processing of your Personal Data includes the (i) performance of any required compliance activities (including export and license checks) with respect to your purchase of any Offering or Cloud Access, (ii) processing payment and delivering the AIC Site and Training Courses you purchased, (iii) providing certification exams and issues badges and credentials, (iv) product improvement (in particular, features and functionality, workflows and user interfaces for the AIC Site and any Training Course(es) and development of new Ansys Services), (v) improving Ansys resource allocation and support, (vi) internal demand planning, (vii) training and developing machine learning algorithms, (viii) identification of industry trends and developments, creation of indices and anonymous benchmarking.

Provisions applicable to Ansys ID:

To access certain Sites and related content, you may be required to create an Ansys ID account and submit certain Personal Data to Ansys. Ansys Processes such Personal Data to (i) perform required compliance activities (including export and license checks), (ii) provide access to requested materials (iii) deliver Services, (iv) improve Ansys Services, (v) analyze resource allocation and support, (vi) conduct internal demand planning, and (vii) identify of industry trends and developments, creation of indices and anonymous benchmarking.

Provisions applicable to the Ansys Innovation Space, AIC Sites, and to Ansys ID:

Ansys is the data controller (i.e., the entity that determines the means and purposes of collecting, using, and disclosing your Personal Data) of the Personal Data we collect about through your use of Ansys Innovation Space, AIC Sites and Ansys ID.

• For purposes of AIC, Ansys Processes your Personal Data when you:
  • Sign up for an account and create a profile;
  • Enroll and participate in online courses;
  • Purchase a product or service;
    • Ansys does not collect or store financial account numbers or payment information. If you choose to make a purchase on the AIC Sites, you will be directed to a third-party payment processor. If you do not wish to submit the required authentication or payment information, then you will not be able to make a purchase or use certain functionality on the AIC Sites.
  • Send email messages to Ansys (including messages to learner support); and
  • Participate in public forums and other interactive experiences on the AIC Sites.
• For purposes of Ansys ID, Ansys Processes your Personal Data when you:
  • Create an Ansys ID account;
  • Request access to certain content;
  • Access and use certain Services;
  • Enroll and participate in online courses;
  • Purchase a product or service;
  • Send email messages to Ansys (including messages to learner support); and
  • Participate in public forums and other interactive experiences on the Sites.

Personal Data Processed includes your name, email address, phone number (for multifactor authentication), and information collected during your usage of the AIC Sites and the Sites.  

Please note that the Ansys Learning Forum, AIC Sites, and Ansys ID are primarily operated and managed on servers located and operated within the United States. Accordingly, by submitting your Personal Data to Ansys, you are sending your Personal Data outside of the country where you reside or are located, including to the United States. It is important to Ansys that transfers of such Personal Data comply with applicable data protection laws, including, to the extent applicable, restrictions on cross-border data transfers under the GDPR and PIPL.

If your access is provided through a corporate or educational account (i.e. your employer and/or school), your access and usage data is available to such purchasing entity. Contact privacy@ansys.com with any questions or concerns.

Provisions applicable to residents in the PRC

In addition to the grounds detailed in Section IV above, additional lawful grounds for use of your Personal Data by Ansys may be when:

• Processing is necessary for the performance of statutory duties or obligations;
• Processing is necessary to respond to public health emergencies, or to protect the life, health and property safety of natural persons in an emergency;
• Processing Personal Data within a reasonable scope for the purposes of news reporting, public opinion supervision and other acts conducted in public interests;
• Processing Personal Data voluntarily disclosed by an individual or other Personal Data that have been lawfully disclosed within a reasonable scope; or
• Any other circumstances stipulated by laws or administrative regulations.

For clarification:

• The lawful grounds of performing a contract include the necessity of carrying out human resources management pursuant to the labor rules and regulations formulated according to the law or the collective contracts and
• Section IV above (“To carry out our Legitimate Interests”) does not apply under PIPL.

For a list of third parties that may receive your Personal Data, such as Service Providers, Business Partners, Channel Partners, Third Party Sellers, please see the relevant chart here. For clarification, this list also includes overseas entities that may also receive your Personal Data. This link may be updated from time to time due to our operation. If you want to receive the contact information of the third parties, please visit their website as linked to in the chart above. For any questions or concerns contact us at privacy@ansys.com.