1. Data protection
1.1 Apostroph Group and all its subsidiaries (“Apostroph”, “we”, “us”, “our”) takes the protection of your privacy and the security of your personal data very seriously. Together with our terms and conditions of use, these data protection provisions form the basis for the processing of personal data that we have received due to your use of this website (“this website”) and explain which cookies we use. The processing of your personal data always takes place in compliance with the prevailing data protection legislation for the purposes for which the data has been provided. Please read the following terms and conditions carefully so that you are familiar with our attitude and procedures regarding the processing of your personal data, how we handle the data and how we use cookies.
2. Type of data collected
2.1 It is possible that we might collect and process the following data about you:
2.1.1 Information that you provide by completing forms on this website. This includes details that you provide when registering for use of our website, when registering for our ordering platform, when ordering case studies or when requesting services. It may also be that we ask you for information if you wish to participate in competitions or promotional activities financed by us or if you report a problem with this website.
2.1.2 When you contact us, we may retain records of this correspondence.
2.1.3 We may also ask you to participate in surveys carried out by us for study purposes. However, participation in such surveys is voluntary.
2.1.4 Details about your visits to this website, including – but not limited to – ‘traffic’ data, location data, weblogs and other communication data required either for your own or other purposes and the resources retrieved by you.
3. Storage location of your personal data
3.1 The data collected from you may be transferred to destinations in Switzerland (server location) or to other destinations within the EU and stored there.
3.2 All data that you make available to us will be stored on our secure servers. If you have received a password from us or created a password yourself enabling you to access certain parts of this website, you are responsible for ensuring that this password is kept secret. You will never be asked by us to disclose your password.
3.3 The transfer of data via the Internet is unfortunately not entirely secure. We will do all we can to protect your personal data but cannot guarantee the security of your data transferred to this website. All data transmission takes place at your own risk. Following the receipt of your data, we will endeavour to prevent unauthorised access to said data by means of strict procedures and security functions.
4. Use of the data
4.1 We use data stored about you in the following ways:
4.1.1 To ensure that the content of this website is presented in the most effective manner for you and your computer.
4.1.2 To provide information and services that you request from us or that we think could be of interest to you as long as you have granted your consent to being contacted for such purposes.
4.1.3 To fulfil our obligations arising from contracts concluded between you and us.
4.1.4 To facilitate your participation in interactive services if you request this.
4.1.5 To notify you about changes to our services.
4.1.6 To create and manage your personal account.
4.1.7 To notify the winners of online competitions.
4.1.8 To test and improve our systems via which our services are provided.
4.1.9 To prevent the misuse or non-compliant use of our services.
4.1.10 To send you surveys (carried out by ourselves or by third parties in our name) concerning your satisfaction with our services and general experience with the Apostroph Group brand.
4.2 Existing contacts of Apostroph Group are regularly updated electronically (e.g. e-mail, newsletter) with information about services and about Apostroph Group as a company. You can unsubscribe from this newsletter at any time at the click of a mouse.
4.3 In the event that we allow selected third parties to use your data for the provision of services ordered by you, we (or the third parties) will only contact you with your prior consent.
4.4 The proprietary engine with its server in Switzerland is used for all machine translations (incl. post-editing) involving the languages DE/EN/FR/IT. A general engine with a protected account is used for the online translator or other languages.
4.5 Through your use of this website, we can also collect certain information about your website usage that cannot be used to identify you personally. Such information is generally collected as ‘traffic’ data and can be automatically collected and stored during every interaction with this website. This can include the IP address and host name of your computer, browser information and the domain name of the reference site every time you visit this website. Furthermore, an insight into the volume and behaviour of visitors to the website can also be gained. However, on no account does any of this information contain data enabling you to be identified personally. The information serves the purpose of analysing and improving this website in order to make it as user-friendly as possible for our customers. If appointments are booked via our website using the “Make an appointment” button, the necessary data is exchanged and stored online on the Calendly server. Please refer to the guidelines of Calendly at: https://calendly.com/dpa. A valid data processing agreement is available as well. Please read the section below about cookies for further information about our use of cookies and when we ask you for your consent.
4.6 We use HubSpot’s software for marketing automation, to send newsletters and for certain contact forms (website). The master data required for this purpose is stored by HubSpot in Frankfurt. HubSpot offers an appropriate level of data protection in accordance with GDPR https://legal.hubspot.com/privacy-policy and a valid data processing contract is in place.
4.7 For the use of apoWRITER, the login details of the users remain on servers in Switzerland. The entered texts are processed using technology from OpenAI, USA and transmitted to their server accordingly. Please refer to the relevant privacy policy of the technology provider at https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy. Apostroph processes the texts exclusively for the present purpose and for further development of the product .
5. Disclosure of your data
5.1 We may pass on your personal data to Group members, i.e. to our subsidiaries, our parent holding company and its subsidiaries within and outside the EEA.
5.2 Furthermore, we may disclose your personal data to third parties in the following cases:
5.2.1 Those who help us to manage the website (e.g. our Internet service providers), to analyse its performance or to provide services you have requested. Such third parties are obliged at all times to guarantee the same degree of security for the protection of your personal data as Apostroph.
5.2.2 If we sell or acquire companies or assets, we may disclose your personal data to the potential seller or buyer of these companies or assets.
5.2.3 To perform services on our behalf and in our name, e.g. execution of orders, sending of e-mails, database management, data analysis, marketing support, execution and evaluation of surveys, personalised advertising, search query evaluation, credit card processing and customer service. Third parties carrying out such tasks only have access to personal data to the extent necessary for the execution of their activities and undertake not to make use of it for any other purposes. They are also obliged to process personal data within the framework of these data protection provisions and in accordance with the prevailing data protection legislation.
5.2.4 If Apostroph or its material assets or another member of the Group is bought up by a third party. In this case, personal data about clients will be transferred assets.
5.2.5 If we have to disclose or communicate your personal data because we are legally obliged to do so or in order to enforce or apply our terms and conditions of use or other agreements or to protect the rights, property or security of Apostroph or other members of our Group, our customers or others. This includes the exchange of information with other companies and organisations for combating fraud and reducing the credit risk.
6. Your rights
6.1 You can revoke your consent granted for the processing of your data at any time with future effect by contacting us by e-mail or post. You can request information at any time about the data stored about your person and the purpose of such storage. You also have a right within the framework of the legal provisions of correction, blocking and deletion of your data. Please contact the following address for the assertion of your rights and any other questions: Apostroph Luzern AG, Töpferstrasse 5, 6004 Lucerne, or mail@apostrophgroup.ch.
6.2 You are entitled to prohibit our use of certain cookies. Please read the section about cookies for further details.
6.3 This website may from time to time contain links to or from the websites of our partner networks, advertising partners and affiliated companies. Please note if you follow a link to one of these websites that such websites have their own data protection provisions and we cannot be held liable or responsible for these provisions. Please read through the corresponding data protection provisions before leaving personal data on these websites.
7. Cookies, spyware, lead generator
7.1 Use of cookies and spyware
7.1.1 We will never install spyware on your computer or use spyware to gain access to data on your computer.
7.1.2 Like many other website operators, we make use of so-called ‘cookies’. These are files that are saved via your browser on the hard drive of your computer and are used to collect and store certain information about you.
7.2 What cookies does Apostroph use?
7.2.1 Essential cookies
Essential cookies are essential for the proper operation of our websites and therefore cannot be disabled. These cookies are usually stored based on your search behaviour on Apostroph’s website, for example when you adjust the settings on the website or fill in forms. If required, you can block this type of cookie in your browser settings. However, we recommend that you do not disable these cookies so that all areas of our website work correctly.
7.2.2 Analytical and statistical cookies
Apostroph uses cookies for statistical and analytical purposes in order to measure the number of hits and activities on this website and to continuously improve the website and its performance. Using these cookies, Apostroph can track visits to the different pages and analyse which pages are visited and used frequently and which pages are visited and used less often, thus optimising the website continuously. If you reject these cookies, we will no longer be able to analyse your use of the website, and the future development and usability of the website will be limited.
7.2.2.1 We use, among other things, Google Analytics, a service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”) to analyse your use of the website. The data generated by Google Analytics is subject to the data protection provisions of Google and is forwarded to Google and stored by Google on servers in the USA. The data is anonymised prior to transfer by removing the last eight digits of your IP address. The data is then processed by Google on our behalf in order to evaluate your use of the website, compile reports about website activity and enable other services associated with Internet usage to be offered. Google will not link your IP address with other data stored by Google. You can deny the use of cookies for the aforementioned purposes by configuring your browser accordingly. However, it may then be that the website is no longer fully functional. You can also prevent the collection and processing of your user data (and your IP address) by downloading and installing the add-on for your current browser at http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en. For further information about how Google uses your data, please read http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html.
The non-personal data collected using Google Analytics Advertising Features can be used for reports for demographic purposes, for proof-of-interest reports and network status reports.
7.2.2.2 SEMrush is also used as an optimisation tool for online marketing. In this context, cookies are stored on your computer which analyse your use of this website. The resulting information is usually transferred to a SEMrush server and stored in the Czech Republic. Further information on Terms of Use and data protection is available at https://de.semrush.com/company/legal/privacy-policy/#3.
7.2.2.3 For users calling up our website from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), it is possible that instead of Google Analytics we make use of the services of Site Monitor of the provider Miaozhen Ltd., Beijing, PRC, with servers in the PRC, for the same purpose and with the same restrictions. To disable the services of Site Monitor, please visit http://i.miaozhen.com/cookie_opt.html.
7.2.2.4 Cookies for social media. These cookies enable you to share the content of the website with social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). We have no control over these cookies as they are set by the social media platforms themselves.
7.2.2.5 Advertising cookies These cookies allow us to display customised advertising contents to you on third-party websites on the basis of the interest displayed by you in our products and services during your visit to our website. These cookies only collect anonymous data that does not permit any identification of your person.
We deploy interest-based advertising on our website. This also includes retargeting and remarketing technologies from third-party providers, such as
DoubleClick: https://code.google.com/archive/p/google-opt-out-plugin/
Google Analytics Advertising Features: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/policy.php
Gonnado: https://gonnado.com/en_EN/
7.2.2.6 The following software is in use to identify visits to our website: https://www.leadforensics.com/
7.2.3 Functionality cookies
Functionality cookies enable advanced features such as playing a video. These cookies can be stored on your computer by Apostroph itself or third parties such as YouTube or Vimeo. If you reject these cookies, these additional features might no longer function correctly.
7.3 Cookie banner
You can use the cookie banner that appears when you visit our website to restrict the use of cookies. You can also adjust the settings of your browser, so that cookies are always accepted, you receive a message when setting up a cookie or all cookies are blocked in general. You can revoke your consent at any time. The help menu of your browser provides further information and instructions on this topic. In the event of a fundamental restriction or prevention of cookies, certain areas of the website may not display or function correctly.
8. Changes to our data protection provisions
8.1 All changes that we make to our data protection provisions in the future will be published on this site and communicated to you by e-mail if necessary.
9. Contact
9.1 If you have any questions about our data protection terms, please write to us at mail@apostrophgroup.ch
