Privacy Policy

October 02 2024

AeroVironment, Inc. and its subsidiaries, (collectively, “AV”, "we", "us," or "our"), is dedicated to protecting your privacy. This Online Privacy Policy (this “Policy”) (together with our CCPA Privacy Policy and Cookies Policy) explains the bases on which we collect, use, and process information about you when you subscribe to our services or when you visit our websites. Internal policies and procedures govern our internal networks and IT systems, as well as the storage and processing of Personal Information (as defined below) for our employees and other authorized users of our networks and IT systems.

Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your Personal Information and how we will treat it.

This Policy explains our practices in the following areas:

  1. The nature of the information we collect about you and the way such information is used.
  2. The nature, frequency, and purpose of any disclosure of information that we may make, including the types of persons or entities to whom the disclosure may be made.
  3. If you are a California resident, please see CCPA Privacy Policy here.

I.    TYPES OF INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND HOW WE COLLECT IT

Personal data, customer, or personal information (collectively, “Personal Information”), means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified, including, but not limited to name, postal address, phone number, email address, and Social Security Number. We collect Personal Information from users of our websites who provide such information to us and by observing your use of our products, services and websites. 

The following are specific types of Personal Information that we collect from customers and visitors to our websites: 

  • "Account Information" means information about your account, including, but not limited to, your name, address, email address, telephone number, credit card information, and appointment scheduling information. We collect Account Information directly from you when you activate or change your account, or purchase and/or subscribe to products or services from us. We may combine information we obtain from third parties with Account Information we collect.
  • Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies: As you interact with our websites, we will also automatically collect the technical and usage data noted above about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this Personal Information by using cookies and other similar technologies. Please see Cookies Policy for further details. 

II.   USE OF Personal INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We use Personal Information to deliver the most suitable products and services, to operate our business and improve our product and service offerings. For example, we may use your postal address, email address, or telephone number to: 

  • Provide customer support; and
  • Solicit your feedback about the products and services you received.

We may also use Personal Information to:

  • Fulfill the reason you provided such information;
  • resolve disputes and troubleshoot problems;
  • contact a customer regarding administrative matters or notices;
  • send promotional materials, newsletters or other communications;
  • respond to inquiries;
  • evaluate potential suppliers, subcontracts or vendors and manage our relationships with them
  • process employment applications, including by assessing qualifications, verifying information, and conducting reference or other employment-related check
  • data analysis (including anonymization and aggregation of Personal Information)
  • prevent, identify and respond to cybersecurity and other security events, espionage, fraud and other unlawful activity, claims and other liabilities
  • help maintain the safety, security, and integrity of our websites, products and services, databases and other technology assets, and business
  • comply with and enforce applicable laws, regulations and legal processes and our policies and procedures

We also may use the Personal Information in other ways for which we provide specific notice at the time of collection.

We only process your Personal Information when it is lawful for us to do so. For purposes of the GDPR, we rely on the following lawful grounds to process your Personal Information: 

  • consent of the data subject;
  • performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract;
  • compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject;
  • legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party.

III.        WHEN WE SHARE Personal INFORMATION WITH THIRD PARTIES

We do not share your Personal Information with third parties, except as described below, which is shared only with those employees, volunteers, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a need to know. In the circumstances described below, we limit the information we provide to the information necessary to perform the function or provide the service for which it is shared. We share Personal Information with third parties who help manage our business and deliver services. Third parties are permitted to use the Personal Information which is provided by us to provide the contracted service to us and not for any purposes other than as authorized by us. 

In addition, we may disclose information about you (i) if we are required to do so by law or legal process, (ii) to law enforcement authorities or other government entities, (iii) when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent harm or financial loss, or (iv) in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual espionage, cybersecurity or security events or other fraudulent or illegal activity. We also reserve the right to transfer Personal Information we have about you in the event we sell or transfer all or a portion of our business or assets (including in the event of a reorganization, spin-off, dissolution or liquidation).

We do not sell or otherwise disclose Personal Information we collect about you, except as described in this Policy. We may share Personal Information with service providers who perform services on our behalf based on our instructions. We may share certain Personal Information with our affiliates for the purposes described in this Policy.

We may share with third parties certain pieces of non-Personal Information and aggregated non-Personal Information, for example, the number of customers located in a certain geographic area. Such information will not identify you individually. We may also make Personal Information available to third parties for the purpose of marketing such products or services. 

IV. HOW LONG WE KEEP Personal INFORMATION

We will only retain your Personal Information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your Personal Information for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you. 

To determine the appropriate retention period for Personal Information, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the Personal Information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your Personal Information, the purposes for which we process your Personal Information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, or other requirements. 

V. YOUR RIGHTS

 In certain circumstances, you may have the right to: 

  • Request access to your Personal Information, commonly known as a "data subject access request." This enables you to receive a copy of the Personal Information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • Request correction of the Personal Information that we hold about you. This enables you to correct any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you, although we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
  • Request erasure of your Personal Information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove Personal Information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your Personal Information where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your Personal Information to comply with local law.
  • Object to processing of your Personal Information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your Personal Information for direct marketing purposes.
  • Request restriction of processing of your Personal Information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your Personal Information in certain scenarios. 
  • Request the transfer of your Personal Information to you or to a third-party. We will provide your Personal Information in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, to you, or a third-party you have chosen.
  • Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your Personal Information.
  • Lodge a complaint to a competent data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR) within your country or region, or where an alleged infringement of applicable data protection laws occurs, for any data protection issues. We would, however, appreciate the chance to address your concerns before you lodge a formal complaint, so please contact us first.

To exercise one of the above rights, please contact us using the details provided below.

For the purpose of the General Data Protection Regulation (the " GDPR"), the controller of your Personal Information is AeroVironment, Inc., located at 900 INNOVATORS WAY, SIMI VALLEY, CA 92653. 

We operate and/or have employees in many U.S. states. We understand our obligations for complying with state comprehensive privacy laws that govern the use of Personal Information.

If you have questions about this Policy or other privacy matters, you may contact us by phone at +1.703.418.2828, email privacy@avinc.com or mail: AeroVironment, Inc., Privacy Policy, attn: Legal Counsel, 241 18TH STREET SOUTH, SUITE 650 ARLINGTON, VA 22202.  

We may need to request specific information from you confirm your identity and your right to access your Personal Information (or to exercise any of your other rights). We follow these steps as security measures to prevent Personal Information from being disclosed to any person that does not have a right to receive it.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one (1) month. Occasionally, it may take us longer than one month if your request is particularly complex or you have made several requests. In this case, we will notify you about the timeline, keep you updated on progress, and request an extension if necessary. 

VI. HOW WE PROTECT THE SECURITY OF Personal information

We take your privacy very seriously and work hard to protect your data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered, or disclosed. We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent this from happening. In addition, we limit access to your Personal Information to those employees, volunteers, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a need to know. They will only process your Personal Information on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We have a comprehensive security program that employs numerous physical, technical, and policy controls such as Firewalls, VPN, encryption, employee trainings, and annual security audits. Physical safeguards include but are not limited to, security guards, alarms, cameras, and locks with badge access readers at our locations.

However, no system or transmission of information via the internet is completely secure or error-free. Although we will do our best to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the complete security of Personal Information transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent your data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered, or disclosed in violation of this Policy. 

VII. A SPECIAL NOTE FOR PARENTS CONCERNING PRIVACY

Our websites are not directed to children, and we do not encourage children to participate in providing us with any personally identifiable information. If you believe that we might have any information from a child under age 13, please contact us by phone +1.703.418.2828, email privacy@avinc.com or mail: AeroVironment, Inc., Privacy Policy, attn: Legal Counsel, 241 18TH STREET SOUTH, SUITE 650 ARLINGTON, VA 22202.  

We strongly recommend that children under age 13 use our services only under the approval and supervision of their parents or legal guardian(s). 

We support the guidelines and regulatory requirements provided in the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA). 

VIII. INTERNATIONAL DATA TRANSFERS

We operate on a global basis with offices in the U.S. and in Germany.  We may transfer Personal Information we collect from you to recipients in countries other than the one in which we originally collected the information, including the U.S.  Those countries may not have data protection laws and regulations like those of the country in which you originally provided your Personal Information.  We take appropriate steps to ensure that cross-border transfers of Personal Information are done in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, including by ensuring contractual commitments are in place with our affiliates and third parties to protect your Personal Information and privacy.  We also carefully evaluate and assess requests from law enforcement, regulators and government agencies prior to providing any Personal Information to such entities.

IX. AUTOMATED DECISION-MAKING

We do not currently perform any automated processing of Personal Information.

X.  LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

When you visit our websites, you may find opportunities to link to third party websites, plug-ins, and applications, for example, on our news & media pages. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. Such third-party websites may also use cookies and other similar technologies to measure the effectiveness of their advertisements and/or to personalize the advertising content that you see. When you click through to these third-party websites, our Online Privacy Policy, CCPA Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy no longer apply. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy or cookie statements. When you leave our websites, we recommend that you read the privacy and cookie policies for any third-party websites.

XI. COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES

As you interact with our websites, we will also automatically collect the technical and usage data noted above about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this Personal Information by using cookies and other similar technologies. Please see our Cookies Policy for further details.

XII. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We share Personal Information in accordance with the Privacy Policy in effect at the time the information is collected. We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy, including the Cookie Policy and CCPA Privacy Policy, at any time. Any new iterations of this Privacy Policy, the Cookie Policy, or the CCPA Privacy Policy will be posted online with the applicable revision date. If changes are made regarding our collection or use of Personal Information, revised policies will be posted online as soon as possible.