Legal

All company name and product name references should be replaced with OpenText’s registered name. The customer-facing trade name is OpenText (without the space), but the official legal entity name includes the space between Open and Text.

• Any copyright statement must use the legal entity name “Open Text”.
• Statements should include the additional sentence: “OpenText” is a trademark of Open Text

Trademark symbol

Include the ™ or ® symbol and the common-noun descriptor upon the first use of the trademark in the title (if the name appears in the title) and also in the text. Subsequent to this initial use, the symbol and descriptor are not needed again. The OpenText logo (graphic) must always include the ™ symbol.

• The ™ symbol is used by individuals, businesses, and legal entities to indicate ownership of products or services that have not been officially registered, but have submitted an application for registration in various jurisdictions.
• The ® symbol indicates that a trademark has been officially registered and the owner can claim exclusive rights to it.
• The ® symbol may only be used if a trademark has been registered in every jurisdiction the trademarked product or service is sold, planned for sale, and/or used in commerce. Because this requirement is true only for a very small number of our trademarks, we almost always default to the use of the TM symbol.
• Here is a list of Micro Focus-owned trademark names, which should be marked with a TM on the first instance.

Emphasis is placed on the OpenText logo, and product name references. For trademarking purposes, each instance of in-product branding imagery are considered “first reference” and will be trademarked when applicable.

The copyright policy applies to Micro Focus entities world-wide and it should be placed on any Micro Focus materials that include copyrightable content. Whether to use the full or shortened copyright notices shown below depends on the type of materials. In cases where the full notice is suggested, the shortened notice may be used instead if there are countervailing considerations, such as lack of space.

Short copyright notice

Use the shortened legal notice for:

• A product’s main splash screen
• A product’s “about” screen
• Login screens and user interfaces (optional)
• Source code files, text files, scripts, that will not be distributed externally
• Visible packaging (e.g. DVDs), e-delivery notifications for software purchase
• Software License agreements, EULAs

It’s possible to use any of the following versions:

 
or

e.g. “Copyright 2020 – 2023 Open Text” or “© 2023 Open Text”

Full copyright notice

The full legal notice should be used in the following cases:

• Websites
• Source code files, text files, scripts, if they will or may be distributed externally
• Product documentation (product manuals, product release notes, slide decks, brochures)
• Marketing materials related to products, technology, or business plans

If the file may be distributed outside Open Text,  the below paragraph should be included. (Do not include in documentation, open source software, or sample source code that is publicly available and not subject to confidentiality restrictions).

Copyright word vs. © symbol

For both short and full legal notice it’s possible to use either the word “Copyright” or the symbol ©”; there is no need to use both. Choose whichever form best suits the aesthetics or available character sets in the material to which you are applying the notice. You may also use both the word and symbol, but it is not required.

If using the character “©” in source code is problematic, then use the word “Copyright” instead of the symbol. If space is too limited for the full word, the only abbreviation accepted is “Copr.”

Dates

The “Date(s)” portion of the copyright notice should first list in “yyyy” form the year of original publication of the work. For software, list the year the first version of the software was publicly released. If that year is the current year, or if the work was not subsequently updated, then the “Date Range” would simply be the year of first publication, as in:

“Copyright 2023 Open Text”.

However, if the work has been updated in one or more subsequent years by making more than minimal changes, a range of years should be included if it is reasonably ascertainable. For example, if the work was initially released in a prior (such as 2018), and updated in the current year (2023), and possibly between those years, the date range should be “yyyy[first release year] – yyyy[current year]” as in:

“Copyright 2018 – 2023 Open Text”.

For a product that has been released in multiple versions and you cannot determine the date of each release, include in the copyright notice only the initial year and the most recent year for which you are confident a version of the product was released. If the only release date you are sure of is the release year for the most current version, list only that year. If the only release date you are sure of is the release year for the most current version, the copyright notice would read:

“Copyright [yyyy of current release] Open Text”.

While we want to be as accurate as reasonably possible in listing dates, if you list a wrong date for a previous release year, there is not a significant negative impact. It is important to be accurate in listing the release date for the most current version.

Open source software

When a product includes open source software, be sure not to remove the copyright statements of contributors to that code unless Open Text has a written agreement that allows otherwise.

Revising former copyright notices

If a work contains a copyright notice that lists a different copyright owner (such as Micro Focus, NetIQ, Borland, Novell, or the name of a company Micro Focus bought the product from), or lists a date earlier than that of the current/upcoming release, if the work has not been modified or has only been modified in a very minimal fashion there is not a requirement to change the copyright notice. When a work is modified by making more than minimal changes (this would apply to any hotfix, patch, or new software version), the new work should contain new copyright notices that comply with this policy; there is no requirement to remove prior copyright notices. An exception is that for new releases with notices that identify HP or HPE (or some variant, such as “Hewlett Packard”) as the owner, the copyright notice should be revised immediately.

All Rights Reserved

Although it is still often used, the phrase “All Rights Reserved” no longer has legal effect. Therefore, its usage is not recommended, and it should be removed from all materials. However, it also has no harmful legal effect, so removal is not required, especially if removal requires significant effort.

Translations

The text “Open Text” should always be in English. Other text in the legal notice (e.g., the additional text in the full legal notice) is not required to be translated, and the business may decide whether to translate. If the decision is made to translate, there is no standard translation, and the business may translate according to its standard translation practices.

Legal Notice vs. Terms of Use

The legal notice is not a replacement for the full Terms of Use used on websites (see, e.g., https://www.microfocus.com/about/legal/), or disclaimers, licenses, or confidentiality statements that may be required by Micro Focus policy or Legal advice to be placed on copyrightable works such as products, documentation, and marketing materials.

✨ New: updated on Jun 12, 2023

If your product includes an HP or HPE reference in its installation path and directories, it is important to include a disclaimer. The disclaimer text should be updated as follows:
‘This software was acquired by Micro Focus on September 1, 2017, and is now offered by OpenText.’