每天在互联网上(Internet)，您都会遇到其他一些版权问题——无论是下载歌曲还是与他人分享视频。虽然创建任何作品文本、图形、动画、音乐、旁白、视频或其组合的(combination thereof)个人或公司(person or company)明确是实际版权所有者(copyright owner)，但在某些情况下，人们会混淆谁是版权所有(copyright owner)者不同的东西。
例如，如果您从Wikimedia Commons中获取一张图片并将该图片用于您准备的小册子上，它是否侵犯了任何版权？如果你把某个程序的画面动作录制下来作为教程，你是否侵犯了软件或硬件所有者(software or hardware owner)的版权？
我将首先回答Wikimedia Commons的案例。是的，如果您使用来自Wikimedia Commons的某些图像并且未按照(Wikimedia Commons)Wikimedia规定的方式将其使用归于原始创建者，则您侵犯了版权。对于那些不知道的人，维基媒体(Wikimedia)是一个文本、图形、动画和音频/视频的存储库，旨在根据知识共享许可进行共享。知识共享许可(Commons license)要求您以预定义的方式将作品归属于其创作者。
微软版权声明
来到微软(Microsoft)，如果你创建了一个教程——比如MS Paint——并将其上传到某个视频共享网站或(site or distribute)通过 CD 分发，你是否侵犯了微软(Microsoft)的版权？MS Paint是Microsoft的软件，因此屏幕上出现的任何内容自然是Microsoft的产品。在这种情况下，截图的版权归微软(Microsoft)所有。
但是……微软通过提供一些指导来减轻您的版权问题(Microsoft relieves you of the copyright issues by providing some guidelines)。如果您以微软规定的方式使用屏幕截图，您拥有屏幕截图的版权。(If you use the screenshots in the manner prescribed by Microsoft, you hold the copyright to the screenshots.)
侵犯著作权(Copyright Infringement Happens)案件
如果您访问了一些仍在建设(software that is still under construction)中且不向公众开放的软件，您将无法使用其屏幕截图。在微软发布(Microsoft)软件(software –)之后且仅在最终形式的预发布中，无论他们如何称呼它，您才能获取并分发其屏幕截图。
如果您使用的屏幕截图包含属于第三方的图像(images that belong to third parties)，则可能会或可能不会侵犯Microsoft 版权(copyright infringement)。例如，如果您正在记录某些软件（例如Adobe Premiere ），并且您出于(Adobe Premiere)演示目的(representation purpose)而捕获屏幕，则需要与Adobe确认您是否可以使用屏幕截图，或者您是否需要任何类型的预先编写的许可才能使用截图。
据我所知，如果您使用AutoCAD 并出于任何原因拍摄屏幕快照，即使您 在Microsoft Windows上运行(Microsoft Windows)AutoCAD也是侵犯版权。这是因为微软(Microsoft)无权免除用户因使用AutoCAD引起的版权问题。在一些论坛中提到，AutoCAD 用户不应该截取屏幕截图，因为这将构成侵犯版权。但是，案例将是“用户 vs AutoCAD ”而不是“用户 vs Microsoft ”，因为后者与在Windows操作系统上运行的AutoCAD无关。
微软知识产权(Microsoft Intellectual Property)许可
以下是微软(Microsoft)在放弃其对Windows和基于Windows的软件的屏幕截图的版权之前施加的一些限制。
- 您不应该更改(not alter)屏幕截图，除非调整它的大小。更改(Alterations)包括颜色校正(color correction)、颜色变化等(color change etc)。但是，如果您正在创建用于学习或参考(study or reference)的材料，您可以使用标记。
- 您不能将Windows屏幕截图或基于Windows的(Windows)Microsoft 软件(Microsoft software)屏幕截图用作您可能构建的任何自定义程序的用户界面元素。(element of the user interface)也就是说，如果您正在编写一些软件，您不应该使用Windows元素的屏幕截图，例如启动屏幕(boot screen)、欢迎屏幕和关机屏幕，作为您正在编写的程序的用户界面的一部分。但是，您可以使用 Visual Basic或其他编程语言来复制未获得Microsoft专利或商标的元素。这意味着您可以重现OK 和 Cancel 按钮(OK and Cancel buttons)用于您的程序，但您不能使用特定于Windows操作系统的(operating system)开始按钮(Start button)。同样，除非您获得Microsoft的书面许可，否则您不能在您的程序中使用(Microsoft)徽标和商标(logos and trademarks)。
- 您不应该使用部分屏幕截图(parts of screenshots)。然而，我对这一点并不满意。为了提供有针对性的教程，您可能需要从屏幕截图中删除不需要的元素。到目前为止，还没有任何已知的侵犯版权(copyright infringement)的案例，其中有人因使用屏幕截图的一部分而不是整个屏幕截图而被指控。我将尝试就这一点寻求澄清，并在收到Microsoft的任何回复后立即向大家更新。
- 根据Microsoft 版权声明(Microsoft Copyright statement)，如果屏幕截图包含可识别人物的图像，(images of identifiable people)则不能使用它们。例如，如果屏幕截图包含某些名人的图像，您可能不会将其用作您的受版权保护的屏幕截图。在这种情况下，版权也不属于微软(Microsoft)。截图中的人可以反对截图，在我看来，这个条款被引入微软的版权(Microsoft copyright)声明，以避免不必要的争议。
阅读(Read)：Microsoft 产品使用权利(Microsoft Product Use Rights)( PUR )。
If you are looking for copyright information on the usage of other elements/software from Microsoft such as distribution of box shots, icons, clip art, capturing video games, etc, you can check out the full text of the Microsoft Copyright Statement.
Microsoft Copyright Statement - Who Owns Your Screenshots?
Every day on the Internet, you cоme across some of the other copyright issues – be it downloading a song or sharing sоme video with others. While it is explicit that the person or сompany that created any piece of worktext, graphics, animations, music, narration, video or a combination thereof – іs the actuаl coрyright owner, thеre are cases whеre people confuse as to who is the copyrіght owner for different things.
For example, if you pick up an image from Wikimedia Commons and use the image on a brochure you prepared, does it infringe any copyright? If you record screen movements for some program and put it together as a tutorial, are you infringing the copyright of the software or hardware owner?
I will first answer the case of Wikimedia Commons. Yes, you are infringing copyright if you are using some image from Wikimedia Commons and do not attribute its use to the original creator in the manner prescribed by Wikimedia. For those who don’t know, Wikimedia is a repository of text, graphics, animations and audio/video that is meant for sharing under creative commons license. A Creative Commons license requires you to attribute the work to its creator in a predefined manner.
Microsoft Copyright Statement
Coming to Microsoft, if you create a tutorial for – say MS Paint – and upload it on to some video sharing site or distribute it through CDs, are you infringing copyrights of Microsoft? MS Paint is a software from Microsoft so naturally whatever appears on the screen are products of Microsoft. Under such cases, the copyrights to screenshots belong to Microsoft.
But… Microsoft relieves you of the copyright issues by providing some guidelines. If you use the screenshots in the manner prescribed by Microsoft, you hold the copyright to the screenshots.
Cases Where Copyright Infringement Happens
If you accessed some software that is still under construction and is not available to the general public, you cannot use its screenshots. After and only after Microsoft gives out the software – in pre-release of final form, irrespective of what they call it – you can take and distribute its screenshots.
If the screenshots you are using contain images that belong to third parties, it may or may not be Microsoft copyright infringement. For example, if you are documenting some software such as Adobe Premiere, and you capture screen for representation purpose, you need to check with Adobe whether you can use the screenshots as such or would you require any kind of pre-written license to use the screenshots.
As far as I know, if you are using AutoCAD and take screen-snaps for any reason, it is copyright infringement even if you are running AutoCAD on Microsoft Windows. This is because Microsoft does not possess the right to relieve users from copyright issues arising out of the use of AutoCAD. It was mentioned in some forum that AutoCAD users are not supposed to take screenshots as it would amount to copyright infringement. But then, the case would be “user vs AutoCAD” and not “user vs Microsoft” as the latter has nothing to do with AutoCAD that operates on Windows operating system.
Microsoft Intellectual Property Permissions
The following are some restrictions imposed by Microsoft before letting go of its copyright on screenshots of Windows and Windows-based software.
- You should not alter the screenshot except to resize it. Alterations include color correction, color change etc. You can, however, use markers in case you are creating material for study or reference.
- You cannot use the Windows screenshots or Windows-based Microsoft software screenshots as an element of the user interface of any custom program you might build. That is, if you are writing some software, you are not supposed to use screenshots of Windows elements such as boot screen, welcome screen, and shutdown screens as part of the user interface of the program you are writing. You can, however, use Visual Basic or other programming languages to reproduce the elements that are not patented or trademarked by Microsoft. That means you can reproduce the OK and Cancel buttons for use with your programs but you cannot use the Start button specific to Windows operating system. Similarly, you cannot use the logos and trademarks in your programs unless you have written permission from Microsoft.
- You should not be using parts of screenshots. I am not comfortable with this point, however. For providing focused tutorials, you might need to cut off the unwanted elements from the screenshot. So far, there has not been any known case of copyright infringement where anyone was charged for using a portion of a screenshot and not the entire screenshot. I will try and seek clarification on this point and update you all as soon as I receive any response from Microsoft.
- As per Microsoft Copyright statement, you cannot use screenshots if they contain images of identifiable people. For example, if a screenshot contains an image of some celebrity, you may not use it as your copyrighted screenshot. In this case, the copyright does not belong to Microsoft either. It would be up to the person in the screenshot to object to the screenshot and in my opinion, this clause is induced into the Microsoft copyright statement to avoid uncalled disputes.
Read: Microsoft Product Use Rights (PUR).
If you are looking for copyright information on the usage of other elements/software from Microsoft such as distribution of box shots, icons, clip art, capturing video games, etc, you can check out the full text of the Microsoft Copyright Statement.
