Question: Microsoft Template and Copyright

[Morgan, Heather]

Hello,

 

I attended a faculty workshop today promoting OER and the question came up  - if someone has used a Microsoft powerpoint template and clipart in their presentation, may that person provide an open license for their presentation?  

 

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

 

Sincerely,

Heather Morgan

Librarian / Department Chair

Spokane Falls Community College

24/7 Chat with a Librarian

SFCC Library Canvas Course

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[Kendra K. Perry]

Does Microsoft have licensing info published for this? I know Canva publishes info about using their design elements for things like logos that can be trademarked.

 

Kendra Perry, MA, MLIS

Coordinator of Library & Learning Support Services

Hagerstown Community College

Schedule an appointment with me

240-500-2551

kkp...@hagerstowncc.edu

(she/her/hers)

 

 

 

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To: cccoer-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Question: Microsoft Template and Copyright

 

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[Bond, Paul]

My institutional version of PowerPoint won't let me see the EULA, but according to https://office-watch.com/2016/office-licence-all-35000-words-of-it/, a version of the EULA says "you may not: ... (ii) grant your customers rights to further license or distribute the media elements" which would preclude any open licensing.

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Paul Bond

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SUNY Broome Community College

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[Jin An-Dunning]

Hello All,

 

I did a little bit of research on this just because it is such a good question and found the following:

 

• Microsoft no longer offers clipart; however, according to their website, their “icons are free to use; there's no royalty or copyright.”
• Their various EULA/Services Agreements are byzantine (as can be expected) and appears to depend a lot on 1) what type of license you are using and 2) who created the content. For example, Microsoft explicitly states “When you share Your Content with other people, you understand that they may be able to, on a worldwide basis, use, save, record, reproduce, broadcast, transmit, share and display Your Content for the purpose that you made Your Content available on the Services without compensating you.” However, this does not apply to copyrighted materials owned by Microsoft or third party vendors and Microsoft explicitly states that Microsoft products are for “your personal, noncommercial use” unless otherwise specified by your license whether it be commercial or educational. I would highly encourage the person to visit  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/useterms/ to see if they can find the specific license that applies to them OR just port their work to a royalty free template or their own design since I think there might be risks involved with repackaging a Microsoft or potentially third party owned template and releasing it under an open license.

 

Regards,

 

Jin An-Dunning, MLIS (they/them/their)

Librarian, Department Chair of Library & Distance Education, ASCC OERi Liaison

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From: cccoer-...@googlegroups.com <cccoer-...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Bond, Paul
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2021 6:47 AM
To: Kendra K. Perry <kkp...@hagerstowncc.edu>
Cc: Morgan, Heather <Heather...@sfcc.spokane.edu>; cccoer-...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Question: Microsoft Template and Copyright

 

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[Veronica Vold]

Thanks so much for sharing what you found in the EULA/Service Agreements, Jin!! I agree that this is a really good question. Here's what I'm curious about: 

• In 2007, Microsoft partnered with Creative Commons to create an add-in that allows Windows users to embed Creative Commons licenses directly into Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents. What's the status of Microsoft's relationship with Creative Commons right now? It sounds like this add-in was a positive collaboration; is there any further collaboration planned? 
• Given that Microsoft encourages users to search for and use openly licensed images when authoring slides, I'm curious why Microsoft-owned v. copyright-free content isn't more clearly labeled in the authoring software interface itself. Searching through the different license terms, I don't see guidance on use of pre-built slide templates, which is worrying for users hoping to share open and accessible slide decks. 
• Jin, your suggestion to port to a royalty-free template is a great idea! I'm also concerned about the additional time/labor required for clean up and for ensuring that accessibility features like alt text carry over. It would be awesome if Microsoft was more transparent about its options for openly licensing content; lack of transparency is definitely a barrier for users, especially for those who are new to open education. Is there an existing query about this on Microsoft support that we could comment on and follow? 

Thanks all!

Veronica

Veronica Vold, PhD (Pronouns: she/her)

Open Education Instructional Designer

Open Oregon Educational Resources

vo...@linnbenton.edu

[Cable Green]

Greetings Friends:

I reached out to our Creative Commons (CC) lawyers to get their opinion on this important question.

Disclaimer: This is not legal advice.

(1) Their comments on your questions:

-----------------

I would say that any art elements that are under a Microsoft license
that does not allow relicensing under a CC license should be clearly
marked; that the clip art can be incorporated with a presentation that
is otherwise CC-licensed but those elements would need to be marked
separately.  

By templates I'm thinking you mean layouts that include
some sort of stock designs, and not just layout placement? I'd
consider that the same as clip art to the extent they include
copyrightable art and designs; some that are just simple placement
guides and do not really include art I think would be harder to say
are copyrightable at all.

-----------------

(2) CC will reach out to Microsoft in early 2022 to ask this question, and to check in on their work and plans related to open licensing.

(3) As a practical matter - if you use MS powerpoint to create slides, and you want to be extra safe - you might want to include some of this info in your attribution statements - either at the beginning or the end of the powerpoint slide deck.

For example:

Unless otherwise noted, [Title - or "this presentation"] by: [Author] is licensed under CC BY 4.0 [or other license].

Templates and clipart are by Microsoft: all rights reserved copyright.

Or something similar.

(4) You can skip this problem altogether by using LibreOffice.

Wishing you all a Happy Holidays!

Cable

--

Cable Green, PhD

Director of Open Knowledge
Creative Commons

@cgreen

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