Legal Parameters for Indirect Reseller case in CSP Program

[nick_Anag]

Dear community,

We are an Indirect Provider in CSP, located in EU (CEMA Region). We would like your precious help to resolve a legal question that bothers us.

The case: one of our resellers has numerous subsidiaries with all of them having different legal entities.
The question: does our reseller, as being an indirect reseller in CSP will be able to buy license from us (as his Indirect Provider) and then resell these licenses to the subsidiaries, which in CSP languague will be their end customers (i.e., due to the fact that each one of them has their own legal entity).

Could you please help us understand if there is any confict following the case details? Any link to the appropriate documentation will help us. The one we were reviewing can be found here.

Thank you in advance for your significant support and help!

Warm regards,
Nick

cc @JillArmourMicrosoft @JillArmour 

[#2]

@nick_Anag I have reached out to the team for help with this, I will let you know what they respond with. 

[#3]

Dear @JillArmourMicrosoft 

Thank you in advance for you assistance to reply on this really critical question for us to win a big project!

Looking forward to receiving team's update.

Warm regards,
Nick

[#4]

Interesting. Let's see what response Jill receives.

I believe the Microsoft Customer Agreement covers this, where in this case the Reseller, if they can buy from you, is the customer and therefore the MCA restricts them from distributing or sublicensing.

[#5]

Hi there @Nick_Beacroft,

Thank you for participating and contributing in this case.
To my point of view, the reseller buys the licenses from us in the level of an Indirect Reseller and not an end-customer. Therefore, as each subsidiary has its own unique legal entity, they will be able to deliver licenses and subscriptions to each unique tenant.

Let's see what the team has to say on this. It is indeed interesting to know!
Warm regards,
Nick

[#6]

@nick_Anag I was pointed to this learn article and they shared info below:

Supported CSP partner relationships - Partner Center | Microsoft Learn.

--------------------

If you go to the “Supported partner transactions in the CSP program” section under Sample scenario 5 you will see the following:

Sample scenario 5: What if a partner in the CSP program wants to sell to themselves as an end-customer?

By contract, partners in the CSP program aren't allowed to sell Microsoft or third-party offers to themselves (as end-customers) or to their affiliate organizations (as end-customers).

This type of transaction isn’t allowed under the CSP program.

-------------------

I hope that helps. 

[#7]

what about if we want to buy a licence for our firm ?

[#8]

Dear @JillArmourMicrosoft,

Much appreciated Jill for your reply!
Regarding the article, we have also been reviewing the same learn article.
Let me follow up on your reply to add few thoughts: firtly, we do not intend to sell to ourselves as an end-customer; so this scenario is out of scope. It is one of our Indirect Resellers who want to sell to a different legal entity, which happens to be their subsidiary. Therefore, based on the sample scenario 5, does this applies to the clause "or to their affiliate organizations"?

To our point of view, this is not a case of an "affiliate organization" due to the fact that they have different legal entities. Please let's work on this point as it is crucial to investigate it in detail.

Thank you once again for your actions Jill! 🙂

Warm regards,
Nick

[#9]

Happy day/week @JillArmourMicrosoft,

Could you please prioritize this thread as we need to have a reply the soonest possible due to project deadlines.

Thank you once again in advance for your significant cooperation!

Warm regards,
Nick

[#10]

@nick_Anag I've bumped the team for a response. 

[#11]

Dear @JillArmourMicrosoft,

Thank you so much. Really looking for team's significant support & answer on this. It is so critical for our business to define this documentation lines into a crystal-clear understanding to make our decisions on them.

Looking forward to hearing from you & the team.

Warm regards,
Nick