Privacy policy

DesignTalks Website Privacy Policy

DesignTalks is an initiative of SolidWorks UK.

SolidWorks UK would like to thank you for visiting the DesignTalks website. We know many visitors have questions regarding the privacy of their interactions with SolidWorks. We hope this privacy policy statement will answer any questions you may have, but if it does not, please feel free to contact us at the email address or postal address shown below.

Information Collected from Online Visitors

In general, you can visit the SolidWorks DesignTalks website without telling us who you are or revealing any personal information about yourself, such as your name, phone number or postal or email address. Our web server collects IP addresses to obtain certain aggregate information concerning the use of our website. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you're surfing the web. We do not link IP addresses to any personally identifiable information. Therefore you can remain anonymous when you visit our website.

Our web servers also collect information such as number of visits, average time spent on the site, pages viewed, etc., but this information is not traceable back to an individual user. SolidWorks uses this information to analyze how people use our site and generate ideas on how the site might be improved.

Some of our web pages utilize "cookies" so that we can better serve you with tailored information when you return to our site. Cookies are identifiers that a web site can send to your browser to keep on your computer to facilitate your next visit to our site. It may do such things as store the fact that you have registered for a seminar so that the next time you visit the site we recognize you are a registrant. You can, if you wish, set your browser to notify you when you are sent a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether or not to accept it.

Occasionally you may be asked to give use more specific information about yourself, such as when you download software, register for a seminar or other event, respond to a survey or enter a contest from our website. Supplying such information to us is optional, but you may be unable to complete certain transactions without giving such information.

Entities collecting personal information

The information provided at this site is collected by:

DesignTalks website,
c/o Marketing Dept
SolidWorks UK
1 Quayside,
Bridge St.
Cambridge
CB5 8AB
UNITED KINGDOM
tel. +44 (0) 1223 346900
fax. +44 (0) 1223 346901
Email: privacy@design-talks.com

Information Collected via Marketing Activities

SolidWorks conducts many different marketing activities by which it may collect your personal information. For example, we collect contact information at trade shows, we rent email and physical mail addresses for marketing campaigns, we invite the public to download free software from our website in return for providing us contact information, we run contests for which participants provide basic information on registration, and we obtain addresses from publications that target the industries from which we hope to attract customers. When we rent lists of names and addresses, we rent them from entities that provide only names of individuals who have "opted in" to receive communications from companies such as SolidWorks and we typically do not receive the actual contact information but only the ability to send an email or mailing to the contact from a bonded mailhouse.

The Use of Personal Information

SolidWorks may use the personal information you provide us for a variety of purposes, including registration, authentication and marketing. We may use the information to inform you of special offers, contests, upgrades and other SolidWorks products and services that may be of interest to you. When you are a customer of SolidWorks products or services, we may use your personal information to contact you for a wide array of customer relation/customer service purposes, such as to inquire whether you intend to renew subscription service agreements or other contracts with SolidWorks or to request that you respond to a survey concerning our products and services or to address a question regarding an order.

Since SolidWorks resellers are our primary sales channel and provide the first line of support to our customers, we share personal contact information with the reseller assigned to a particular customer or prospect.

We may also provide you with materials concerning the products and/or services of other third parties we think may be of interest to you. We may do this by emailing information to you or providing your name and address to a bonded mailhouse that mails information on behalf of a third party. The bonded mailhouse is prohibited from providing the third party with your name and contact information and is obligated to either return the information to us or destroy the list following the mailing. Unless we inform you otherwise at the point at which we collect your information, we will not provide your personal contact information directly to a third party not otherwise described herein.

SolidWorks products (other than Cosmic Blobs, which is subject to a separate privacy policy) are not marketed to children under the age of 13 and SolidWorks does not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. SolidWorks is committed to protecting the privacy of children and if SolidWorks becomes aware that such information was collected, it will treat that information as sensitive.

If you do not wish to receive information about additional SolidWorks products or services or those of its partners and other companies, please let us know (contact information below) and we will respect your wishes. Emails we distribute describing offers we think may be of interest to you also contain instructions as to how you can opt-out of future emails.

SolidWorks stores the personal data of web site visitors and customers indefinitely and may maintain and process such information directly or indirectly in one or more databases in the United States and elsewhere. We may hire other companies to provide services on our behalf that may involve the storage and use of your personal information, such as for delivering mailings or emails. Any such company or third party is required to maintain the confidentiality of that information and is prohibited from using that information for any purpose other than as authorized by us. If you provide personal information to SolidWorks, you agree and consent to SolidWorks' storage and usage of this information anywhere that SolidWorks and its affiliates maintain offices (around the world), for a variety of purposes, including those described above.

SolidWorks may also disclose such personal information if required by law or if SolidWorks believes in good faith that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to comply with legal process (for example, a warrant or subpoena or other court order) or protect the rights, property or personal safety of SolidWorks, our customers or the public.

Updating Personal Information and "Opting Out"

SolidWorks wants to ensure that the information it collects is accurate. You may notify us of any change to your address, phone number, email address or other information by sending us an email message at privacy@design-talks.com or by notifying us in writing at

DesignTalks website,
c/o Marketing Dept
SolidWorks UK
1 Quayside,
Bridge St.
Cambridge
CB5 8AB
UNITED KINGDOM
tel. +44 (0) 1223 346900
fax. +44 (0) 1223 346901
Email: privacy@design-talks.com

You may set or change your communication preferences by visiting www.solidworks.com/preferences.

If at any time you wish to "opt out" of receiving information from DesignTalks, SolidWorks or its partners or other companies, please notify us by sending us an email or written message to the addresses shown above or by emailing us at unsubscribe@design-talks.com. Please note that due to lead times on certain mailings and other contacts, you may continue to receive contacts for a period following your "opt out" notification.

Changes to this Policy

SolidWorks may change this policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted to this site, so we encourage you to review our privacy policy from time to time.

Certified SolidWorks Professional Directory and Other Public Lists/ Community Sections of Website, including Discussion Forum

SolidWorks provides various Community activities to its users, including Discussion Forums (See the Community page under Services at the SolidWorks website). Participation in these activities is voluntary and it is very likely that personal information will be exposed to other members of the Community if you participate. Some users prefer to participate using pseudonyms, but email addresses are required. SolidWorks takes no responsibility for maintaining the privacy of any personal information you make available to members of any Community identified in this section of the website.

Third Party Sites

This website contains links to websites owned and maintained by other companies. Such websites may also collect personal information and such collection of personal information will be subject to the privacy policies of the site and company at which it is collected. SolidWorks is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of any non-SolidWorks website. Please review the privacy policy of such other sites before providing them with your personal information.

We hope this policy statement helps you understand SolidWorks' practices with respect to your personal and business information. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us as indicated above under the heading "Updating Personal Information and Opting Out".

Rev. October 2007