Are the images that come with keynote copyrighted?

But I am not extracting the image to be used on a "standalone" basis.

Of course you are.

You are telling us you will use images that are not your copyright, have them transferred to another software application for display to viewers, then printed to paper and displayed to viewers, for the purpose for commercial gain.

That is a clear definition of standalone use.

What you are intending to do is perform a secondary use with these images, you therfore do not have permission from the copyright owners of these images to use them in the way you intend.

One of the main reasons designers choose to use images from stock libraries is to prevent copyright infringement.

I've just looked at the licensing agreement for Keynote and you might want to take a look at it:

http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/Keynote.pdf

In particular, Section F:

F. Content and Digital Materials.

Title and intellectual property rights in and to any content displayed by

or accessed through the Apple Software belong to the respective content owner. Such content may be

protected by copyright or other intellectual property laws and treaties, and may be subject to terms of

use of the third party providing such content. Except as otherwise provided in this License, ℹ this

License does not grant you any rights to use such content nor does it guarantee that such content will

continue to be available to you, and (ii) you may not use, extract or distribute, commercially or otherwise,

on a standalone basis, any photographs, images, graphics, clipart, artwork or similar assets (“Digital

Materials”) contained within, or provided as a part of, the Apple Software or Services (including but not

limited to any Digital Materials contained within templates, themes or user guides and tutorials), or

otherwise use the Digital Materials outside the context of its intended use as part of the Apple Software.

However, I am not a lawyer nor do I work for Apple, so it would be best to make sure by contacting Apple as suggested.

Sorry, if my post was too short to be quite clear. It was meant as an add-on to babowa's and stevejobsfan's excellent advice in reply to the last part of your question:

So... is creating an eBook "outside the context of its intended use as part of the Apple Software."? Seems like a reasonable use case...

I tried to interpret the term ""outside the context of its intended use". The "intended use" is specified in the the license, paragraph 2.A.i.

When you wrote "I'm writing a short eBook, and I want to use one of the stock photos that comes with Keynote as the cover" it was not not clear, that you are writing the complete book in Keynote. I read your question as using a Keynote photo while writing the book in iBook Author, Apple's software to create eBooks. Taking an image file out of Keynote would be "ripping". Using Keynote to create a book you want to sell is raising a completely different legal question:

Look again at the license, paragraph 2.A.i : I doubt, if creating a book to be sold is covered by "personal, non-commercial use"

In the Keynote license is a paragraph glaringly missing that is granting the right to use the products created with Keynote freely on a commercial basis, like we are seeing in the GarageBand or Logic Pro license: Using royalty-free loops in GarageBand with commercial work - Apple Support

Writing your eBook in iBook Author would have the added benefit, that the Book Store team would check for any copyright issues when you submit the book to the iBook Store.

The rules are:

you don't have permission to use the images contained in the themes in Keynote.

Section F part ii of the KEYNOTE SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT specifically states that you are not authorised to use any images contained in the themes within Keynote:

"you may not use, extract or distribute, commercially or otherwise, on a standalone basis, any photographs, images, graphics, clipart, artwork or similar assets (“Digital Materials”) contained within,"

I would suggest you purchase images from a stock image library just like any other designer that wants to publish a book.

There are many but to mention only three; istock photo, shutter stock, Gettyimages

Also perform a web search for : "stock image library"

I refer you to the legally binding agreement you agreed to when purchasing Keynote:

Apple Keynote Software licence agreement

That Section F text does seem quite relevant, but also a little bit vague

That is why I included the disclaimer at the end of my post - I'm quite good at interpretations of legal contracts (I used to get paid for that), but interpretations can and will vary tremendously and as soon you get two lawyers in the same room, you will get two to four different opinions (two lawyers and two clients) and five different interpretations depending on who is being represented by which lawyer and which point is being argued. And what exactly is "its intended use" except play around on your Mac and create pretty presentations to show to your friends..... legal language is always and purposely vague to leave enough wiggle room for arguments for and against...

Having said all that, I'd say it would probably be best (and/or safest) not to use any of the images since you want to create a book and presumably sell it?

"outside the context of its intended use as part of the Apple Software."

The intended use of Keynote is to create a slideshow presentation, not to rip the photos from the templates and use them separately for different purposes.

Take your camera out and make a similar photo.

I am not extracting images to be used or distributed on a standalone basis.

You are not using Keynote to display these images; you intend to export the images outwith the Keynote application to be used for commercial gain.

As per your original post, you state: "I do intend to sell the book commercially, both in digital and print formats"

You know, my initial responses were meant to be polite, but still point out the legalities. I am now joining the other posters in being direct: yes, they're copyrighted and you should not use them for commercial gain (however indirectly or directly). There are millions of images available online for (reasonable) purchase if you cannot take your own - so, peruse and buy one and stop trying to argue your way around the legalities.

I would try getting in touch with Apple's legal team: https://www.apple.com/legal/contact/#copyright.