Synopsys
Information Technology
24
out of 100. Number 474 of 512, counting from the worst.
Where Synopsys does well
- Arbitration 0 of 20. Nothing found.
- Renewals 0 of 20. Nothing found.
- Data retention 0 of 15. Nothing found.
- No forced arbitration or class-action waiver was found in any document reviewed — disputes are handled in Santa Clara County, California courts under California law (SolvNetPlus Terms; ARC Hardware T&Cs).
- The Website Privacy Policy states explicitly: 'We do not sell, rent, share, or otherwise disclose personally identifiable information from customers for commercial purposes,' and Synopsys's Dec 2021 Data Privacy & Protection Statement lists 'No sale of personal information' as a privacy principle.
- No auto-renewal, cancellation-fee, or cancellation-trap language was found — consistent with a B2B model of negotiated term licenses; Black Duck's TOU frames exit as simply 'cancel and stop using the Service.'
- The Black Duck TOU expressly disclaims ownership of customer code submitted to the service ('we do not claim ownership of any Code that is transmitted, stored, or processed in your account(s)').
Black Duck can rewrite the rules whenever it wants and the new rules take effect the moment they are posted — just keep using the service and you have 'agreed' to them.
The fine print
6 clauses and findings from the draft archive, dated 1 October 2026. The plain English comes first; the small print is the company's own words. None of these has been checked yet.
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Black Duck can rewrite the rules whenever it wants and the new rules take effect the moment they are posted — just keep using the service and you have 'agreed' to them. Your only opt-out is to cancel and walk away.
We reserve the right to revise this TOU from time to time. We will date and post the most current version of this TOU on the Black Duck Site. Any changes will be effective upon posting the revised version of this TOU... Your continued access or use of any portion of the Service constitutes your acceptance of such changes. If you don't agree to any of the changes, we're not obligated to keep providing the Service, and you must cancel and stop using the Service.
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Same pattern for the customer support portal: Synopsys can change the terms unilaterally, and if you want to keep getting support downloads and license keys, you must click accept on whatever the new terms say.
Synopsys may modify these Terms at any time in its sole discretion. When changes are made, you will be required to accept the then current terms to continue to access SolvNetPlus and Content.
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Black Duck can cut off your access for any reason or no reason, without warning, and if that happens you may permanently lose access to your own source code that you uploaded for scanning. Keep your own backups.
We reserve the right, to temporarily suspend or terminate your access to the Service at any time in our sole discretion, with or without cause, and with or without notice, without incurring liability of any kind... You acknowledge that if your access to the Service is suspended or terminated, you may no longer have access to the Code that is stored with the Service.
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By installing Synopsys EDA tools you consent to the software poking around your company's computers and networks — to check license compliance and send error reports back to Synopsys. Synopsys also grants itself permission to reuse that error/telemetry data to 'enhance' its own products.
By installing, accessing, using, or executing any Synopsys Software, you agree that Synopsys Software will reside on, operate within, and have access to the computers and networks where such software is used ('Host System'), and that Synopsys may access components and data of the Host System as necessary for Synopsys Software to function properly, to authenticate and validate license keys, to verify that Synopsys Software is used only in conformity with the applicable license restrictions, and to communicate error messages and associated data to Synopsys servers. You further agree that Synopsys may use error messages and other data generated through use of Synopsys Software to enhance its ability to deliver products and services.
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You are contractually gagged from publishing how Synopsys hardware performs compared to rivals, and you cannot use their products even to develop anything that competes with them. Similar anti-benchmarking/anti-competitive clauses appear in the Virtual Lab evaluation terms (no using the product 'to develop or enhance any product that competes with any Synopsys product').
Customer acknowledges and agrees that it shall not, nor permit any third party to: (iii) disclose the results of any benchmarking of the Hardware (whether or not obtained with Synopsys' assistance) to third parties; (iv) use the Hardware to develop or enhance any product that competes with a Synopsys product...
HAPS Hardware Terms and Conditions, Section 3 (Use Restrictions)
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Data you hand over at registration can be passed to Synopsys's subsidiaries and 'business partners,' and third-party ad vendors like Google can drop cookies on synopsys.com so Synopsys can retarget you with ads elsewhere. (The policy does state it does not sell personal data for commercial purposes — see fair points.)
During registration you are required to give contact information (such as name and email address)... This information may also be shared with Synopsys subsidiaries and business partners. ... we may also permit third-party vendors, such as Google, to place cookies in your browser so that we may advertise our products to you on other websites that you may visit.
How these were found
Documents read directly from synopsys.com domains on 2026-10-01 (no mirrors needed): SolvNetPlus Terms of Use (https://solvnet.synopsys.com/terms, no version date shown), Website Privacy Policy (effective March 7, 2022, https://www.synopsys.com/company/legal/privacy-policy.html), Black Duck Terms of Use Version 2024.1 (https://www.synopsys.com/company/legal/software-integrity/terms-of-use.html), HAPS Hardware Terms and Conditions (https://www.synopsys.com/verification/emulation-prototyping/prototyping/haps-terms-conditions.html), Virtual Lab Evaluation Terms and Conditions (https://eval.synopsys.com/Account/TermsConditions?referrer=VirtualLab). Synopsys is a B2B EDA software vendor: most products are sold under negotiated enterprise license agreements not publicly available, so this assessment covers only the public-facing terms above. I did not locate a general synopsys.com website 'Terms of Use' page distinct from the product terms; the ARC Hardware T&Cs (https://www.synopsys.com/apps/docs/pdfs/ip/ARC_Hardware_T&C.pdf) confirm California governing law and exclusive Santa Clara County jurisdiction. The Dec 17, 2021 Data Privacy & Protection Statement (synopsys.com PDF) was seen only via search snippet, not fully opened. Auto-renewal terms could not be checked against private enterprise license agreements.
These notes come from the original draft and are not independent verification.