Microsoft Agent Licensing and Distribution

Microsoft Corporation

Updated February 1999

The following uses for Microsoft Agent version 2.0 are currently royalty-free. They are subject to the End-User License Agreement displayed when the Microsoft Agent installation file is run, and do not require a distribution license:

You can automatically cause Microsoft Agent to download from the Microsoft site by including the CLSID for Microsoft Agent in an HTML <OBJECT> tag on one of your site's pages, as described on the Download Page for Developers.
You can automatically cause the speech engines to download from the Microsoft site by including their CLSIDs in an HTML <OBJECT> tag on one of your site's pages, as described on the Download Page for Developers, provided that these engines are only downloaded and installed for use with Microsoft Agent.
You can load Microsoft's designated characters or images from the Microsoft Web site in your script code using the Microsoft Agent Load and Get (Prepare) methods, as described on the Character Data page.

However, to add or include Microsoft Agent and any of its components to or with an application, or post Microsoft Agent and any of its components on a server, or distribute Microsoft Agent and any of its components using other electronic media, you must first obtain a distribution license for Microsoft Agent. The license does not include the Microsoft Agent Character Editor or the Microsoft Linguistic Sound Editing Tool. The Microsoft Agent character files and their images and designated speech engines cannot be used or distributed without Microsoft Agent and only as part of a Microsoft Agent-enabled page or application.

Note to licensees of Microsoft Agent version 1.5: Your license does not apply to version 2.0.

To obtain a distribution license, please see the following:

Microsoft Agent Distribution License
Information on licensing and distributing Microsoft Agent and the files for Microsoft Agent characters.

Distributing licensing for the speech engines supplied by Microsoft, that can be downloaded from this web site, is covered in the license agreement displayed when you install that engine. If you have a valid license agreement for Microsoft Agent, no additional license must be submitted for those speech engines. If you are using a speech engine supplied by a vendor other than Microsoft, check with your vendor for their distribution licensing requirements.

For further information, contact Microsoft Agent License Info at msagtlic@microsoft.com. Do not send technical support questions to this alias.

You may also want to take a look at the Uses Microsoft Agent Logo Program and the Character Download Buttons.