The license grant is defined in the End-User Licence Agreement (“EULA”) for each product. This page is less legalese than the EULA, communicates our licensing philosophy more comprehensibly, and has FAQ at the bottom of the page.
How we license the Use of our products
We license our products for these Uses:
- Commercial use: Income-generating use of any kind, whether direct or indirect.
- Academic use: Teaching in class, or participating in the Process Simulation Cup (PSC), or working on a Bachelor or Master thesis, but not Commercial use.
- Trial use: Evaluation use, but not Commercial use and not Academic use.
See the FAQ below for interpretations and examples.
Which Users we license our products to
We license our products to these Users:
- Industry users: A process engineer working for an Owner-Operator, an Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) company, an Equipment Manufacturer, a Consulting company, or a Research Institute.
- Academic users: A professor or a PhD student currently employed, or a Bachelor or Master student currently enrolled, at an accredited university.
Industry users and Academic users are disjunct. See the FAQ below for interpretations and examples.
For which Usage we license our products
We license our products for these Usages:
- Named user access: Personal, non-transferable, non-sublicensable set of login credentials (username and password) to access our products.
- Computing transactions (RUN commands): Number of executions of the CHEMCAD “Run”, “Run Selected UnitOp”, “Run Selected Recycles”, or “Run Dynamics” commands.
- Computing time (hours): Number of hours that CHEMCAD is running, by started minutes.
All products are licensed on the Named user access basis. In addition, some products contain Computing transactions and/or Computing time. See the FAQ below for interpretations and examples.
Licensing FAQ
- How do I know when my license is about to expire?
You will receive an email notification a few days before your license expires. You will be able to extend the license via the link provided in the email.
You can also check the expiration date on the My Account page under Your Purchases section.
- Can I renew my license?
Yes. You can renew your license after it expired.
You can also extend your license while it’s still active. Renew an active license on the My Account page under Your Purchases section: Select the “View Licenses” link and the “Extend license” link.
- Which CHEMCAD license is provided in a VM with CHEMCAD?
All “VM with CHEMCAD” products provide access to the CHEMCAD suite.
- I still don’t get it. What is Commercial use?
If there’s as much as a sniff of commercial interest in what you’re doing then it counts as commercial use.
- I am working for a non-profit organisation. Is this considered Commercial use?
Yes. The fact that your organisation has zero profit means that revenue minus cost is zero, which is commercial use.
- I am working for a non-governmental organisation (NGO). Is this considered Commercial use?
Yes.
- I am working for a state-funded organisation. Is this considered Commercial use?
Yes.
- I am working for pro-bono project. Is this considered Commercial use?
Yes. Using our products for pro-bono work (from the Latin pro bono publico, meaning ‘for the public good’, or working for free), if it also enhances your reputation or leads to income-generating work in any way, is commercial use.
- I am doing general research. Is this considered Commercial use?
Yes. If you use our products for general research, even if not for any specific purpose, and you or your organisation generates income, that counts as commercial use.
- What happens if I use your products commercially, but without a Commercial license?
During Trial and Academic use, we reserve the right to monitor your usage. As agreed in the EULA, we are entitled to charge you 150% of the price for the nearest-fit commercial license, if we detect the commercial usage of an Academic license or a Trial license.
If you purchased a Trial license or an Academic license, but you use it commercially, we are entitled to charge you 150% of the price for the nearest-fit commercial license.
Please check with us before purchasing.
If your use case is not listed on this page, or you are still in doubt, send us an email to support@cc-api.com for a legally binding answer in your case.
- How does CC-API handle Updates?
Have a look at our Update Policy!
- How does CC-API handle Support?
Have a look at our Support Policy!
- Do you offer your products for private use?
No. All offers on this website (cc-api.com) are for commercial use or for professional training use only. We do not sell to consumers (“Verbraucher” according to German law).
- I am preparing an offer to my client. Can I use a trial license for this?
No. Your use is clearly Commercial use, since you have an economic interest (winning the project).
- What’s the difference between a Commercial license and a Trial license?
A Trial license is for evaluation purposes only. During Trial, check the functionality, play with our products, test the examples and tutorials provided with the installed software or on the help pages, etc. You can even use the flowsheets and tutorials provided for the Process Simulation Cup (PSC) on www.process-simulation-cup.com to learn from industry-grade case examples!
When your evaluation leads to results, which you could sell, you have crossed the border to Commercial use.
During Trial and Academic use, we reserve the right to monitor your usage. As agreed in the EULA, we are entitled to charge you 150% of the price for the nearest-fit commercial license, if we detect the commercial usage of an Academic license or a Trial license.
- How do you distinguish between Commercial use and Academic use?
Academic use covers teaching in class and writing a Bachelor or Master thesis.
The following activities by academics are considered Commercial use and are not covered by Academic use:
- A university professor gives a training to industry participants. This is Commercial use, since it enables the professor to charge a fee for the course, or to sell a research project to the company. Please note that it does not matter if the professors does charge a fee or does sell a project.
- A Master thesis or PhD student works on a topic for a company. This is Commercial use, since the company will benefit from the findings, and the student raises his profile to get employed by the company after graduation.
- A university professor, chair or department members participate in a research project for an industrial partner. The project requires a Commercial license.
- A university professor, chair or department members participate in a publicly funded research project. The project requires a Commercial license.
These activities are typically considered Academic use:
- A university teacher (professor or PhD student) prepares examples, exercises and Powerpoint slides for teaching in class, group exercises, or student homework.
- A PhD student works on a purely academic project, without involvement of an industry partner. Check the answer to this question how we handle this case.
During Academic use, we reserve the right to monitor your usage. As agreed in the EULA, we are entitled to charge you 150% of the price for the nearest-fit commercial license, if we detect the commercial usage of an Academic license.
If your use case is not listed on this page, or you are still in doubt, send us an email to support@cc-api.com for a legally binding answer in your case.
- What do you mean by “Industry users and Academic users are disjunct”?
For the purpose of our licensing, a user can only be in exactly one role, either Industry user or Academic user.
Even if someone is employed by or enrolled in an accredited university when he is licensing our products, as soon as the purpose of the licensing is for an industry project, this is Commercial use.
- Can I use Academic licenses for MOOCs or e-learning or distance education?
It depends, so maybe yes.
This is more complicated to answer, and we are generally interested in supporting you to set up your case.
Please send us an email to sales@cc-api.com for discussion.
- As a PhD student, can I get an Academic use license for my PhD project?
It depends, so maybe yes.
This is more complicated to answer, and we are generally interested in supporting you to set up your case.
Please send us an email to sales@cc-api.com for discussion.
- How can I use an Academic license for my Bachelor or Master thesis?
All students must register as participants for the Process Simulation Cup (PSC) on www.process-simulation-cup.com , where we verify your status with your enrolment proof and your university email address.
After registration for PSC, you can use the PSC login to login on www.cc-api.com. Then proceed to this page exclusively provided for PSC participants to purchase the PSC thesis product.
- As student, why do I have to register through Process Simulation Cup (PSC) first?
PSC is our communication channel with students. We have set up all the communication processes with students on PSC only to be more efficient.
You can even use the flowsheets and tutorials provided for the Process Simulation Cup (PSC) on www.process-simulation-cup.com to learn from industry-grade case examples!
- Can I share my access credentials?
No. You are not allowed to share, not even with an assistant or your dog.
- When do I license Computing transactions and/or Computing time?
Currently, only the .NET Interface product has this.
This page explains the four .NET Interface licenses currently available in detail.