Content library 360 - copyright

Hi Chloe,

Thanks for reaching out!

Yes, media from Content Library 360 can only be used to create courses using Articulate 360 applications. You can also distribute courses that contain these files as long as the courses were created in Articulate 360. You can check our Terms of Service for more details, but I've pasted the relevant section below for your reference: 

2.12 Articulate Content. Customer may use the Articulate Content to develop Customer’s e-learning end product in the Services (“End Product”), including embedding the Articulate Content into Customer’s End Product and reproducing and distributing Articulate Content if integrated with the Customer’s End Product. Subject to Customer’s compliance with this Agreement, Articulate grants Customer a worldwide license solely to use Articulate Content within Customer’s End Product. However, the Customer may not use or distribute the Articulate Content on a stand-alone basis outside of the End Product. For clarification, no Customer has any ownership rights in the Articulate Content.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Is there copyright infringement involved if the end product is for commercial use?

This is a common myth, that commercial use is different than other use. I can't give legal advice, and this isn't legal advice, but I have heard many lawyers say that the use has no bearing on copyright infringement. Copyright is the right to make copies, regardless of what you do with the copies. If your action doesn't infringe, then selling it won't either. There is also a common myth that companies won't bring legal action against you unless you use their material commercially.  Also not true. The company founded by Walt (not Hamilton, but the other Walt) zealously protects their rights, and will come after you.  It seems to be true that if the owner can show financial damage (like if you gain money that they could have gained from using their material), they stand a better chance of recovering damages from you.

That said, you can do anything the copyright holder gives you permission to do. Articulate, for example, has given you permission to create anything you want using their software, and  exploit that creation any way you want, as I read the above material.  However, there are limitations. You can't, for example, use the material outside of what you create using Storyline. Again, this is not legal advice, it is just what I think the above paragraph means.

Of course, creators of material do not have to claim their rights (like Articulate plainly has) under US copyright law, They can claim the rights under a variety of different licenses, such as Creative Commons (CC), GNU, Copyleft, OER, and others. Many of the different levels within those do give you non-commercial only rights.