Unofficial archive. This is a read-only, community-run archive of the Apple Support Community. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple Inc.

Can I use Pages templates for commercial article typesetting with authorization?

Please let me know whether this is in accordance with the Pages software license agreement or not. If (not) in accordance, which article is it based on? Because I have read the agreement, and I still have doubts.



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: May I ask if I can use the template of Pages documents to typeset my own and other people's articles (with the authorization of other people) and then sell to them because they want to? ( Commercial copyright issue)

4 replies

IANAL, but I somewhat disagree with Viking here...


As I read it, the templates themselves are restricted - you can't take one of Apple's templates, and resell that as a new commercial product, even if you tweak the design.


That does not carry through to documents you create that are based on a specific template - in that case, what you're selling is the content, not the template itself.


I believe this statement is backed up by the opening paragraph 2F:


" Title and intellectual property rights in and to any content displayed by or accessed through the Apple Software belong to the respective content owner."


Therefore IP rights of the text of the document (the "content") is owned by the "respective content owner", not Apple.


Taking it to the next logical step, Pages has a direct link to publish your document on Apple Books, or as an ePUB document for (potential) commercial distribution. This couldn't happen (or at least be legal) if Apple prevented commercial distribution of documents created in Pages based on a template based restriction. Since it isn't possible to create a document in Pages that isn't based on a Template (even 'Blank' is a template in and of itself), every document would be inherently restricted. Ergo this cannot apply.


That said, if you're really in doubt, contact Apple Legal (or have your lawyer confirm/verify). The cynic in me says maybe that's why lawyers write things the way they do. Self-preservation....

When in doubt, contact Apple legal before you proceed.

Thanks.I have checked.But it says"...on a standalone basis..." which doesn't include the situation of mine.