News

Microsoft Extends AI Copyright Protections to Its Partners

• By Gladys Rama
• November 14, 2024

Microsoft this week announced several new partner benefits meant to accelerate channel sales amid skyrocketing AI demand.  

"We've always been committed to empowering our customers and partners as they navigate the evolving landscape of technology," wrote Nicole Dezen, Microsoft's chief partner officer, in a blog post Tuesday. "With the rapid advancement of AI, this commitment has never been more important."

AI Copyright Indemnity for Resellers
Microsoft's Copilot Copyright Commitment (CCC), which insulates users of the Copilot AI stack against copyright disputes, will also cover partners that resell Copilot products, Dezen announced.

The risk of AI-driven copyright violations is a persistent concern among adopters. Last year, Microsoft introduced the CCC to assure users of its various AI products that they will not be saddled with onerous lawsuits if any content they generate using Copilot falls under copyright scrutiny; Microsoft will instead shoulder the entire legal burden for them.     

Those protections will be extended to Microsoft's reseller partners "in the coming months," according to Dezen.

"[W]e are extending our CCC to include our reseller partners, both as customers and in support of their end customers," she said. "This means that our resellers can assure their customers that they will receive the same CCC protections as customers who purchase qualifying Copilot offerings directly from Microsoft."

Microsoft is currently working to update its reseller agreements to reflect the new partner protections, as well as to streamline the process for submitting CCC claims.

EA Customers Redirected to Partners
A "small percentage" of Microsoft cloud customers with Enterprise Agreements (EAs) will be unable to renew their contracts as normal starting Jan. 1, 2025.

Microsoft will contact these customers at the start of next year to inform them that they will not be able to renew under the EA model. Instead, these customers will need to go through partner-driven licensing avenues -- specifically, Cloud Solution Providers (CSPs) or the Microsoft Customer Agreement for Enterprise (MCA-E). (The MCA-E enables organizations to buy Azure services either directly from Microsoft of through a partner.)

"With partners leading the way," said Dezen, "customers can navigate these changes with confidence, knowing they are fully supported in their path to growth."

Other Partner Benefits
Microsoft plans to update the formula it uses to determine the highest price at which partners can resell its products (maximum resale price). This change is meant to benefit partners that work in the public sector, which requires them to cultivate "unique requirements and expertise," noted Dezen.

Also, between January and June next year, Microsoft will give partners "15% off the net price of Microsoft 365 E5 annual commitment subscriptions for eligible customers."