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Old 02-21-2020, 08:28 AM
Stuart_C2 Stuart_C2 is offline Commercial Distribution of Word Templates and VBA Macros Windows 10 Commercial Distribution of Word Templates and VBA Macros Office 2013
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Default Commercial Distribution of Word Templates and VBA Macros

Hi,


I’m looking into commercially distributing some Word templates and supporting macros. I’ve started talking to a company about what to do with regards drafting some sort of software license, and their first question is am I sure I *can* commercially distribute templates and macros without Microsoft having some sort of ‘derivative works’ (I think they said) claims. Well – yes, I assume! I’ve had a look through various EULAs, the Microsoft Community Promise, the Microsoft Open Specification Promise and various other things, and I haven’t been able to find a statement that in effect says “any macro or template that you create using Microsoft Word is yours to distribute”. Anyone looked at this before and can point me towards something?




(To clarify, the end user needs their own licensed copy of Word to use the templates/macros on. I'm not intending to distribute Word itself in any shape or form.)


Many thanks,
Stuart
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Old 02-21-2020, 02:55 PM
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There is nothing in the EULA to prevent you distributing your code, whether by sale or otherwise. Provided it's not plagiarised, it's your intellectual property. Hence you won't find anything in the EULA discussing that. Indeed, you'll also find plenty of people selling templates of various kinds, some containing VBA code, others not, without attracting Microsoft's ire.
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Old 02-21-2020, 07:26 PM
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Old 02-23-2020, 03:58 PM
Stuart_C2 Stuart_C2 is offline Commercial Distribution of Word Templates and VBA Macros Windows 10 Commercial Distribution of Word Templates and VBA Macros Office 2013
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Quote:
Originally Posted by macropod View Post
There is nothing in the EULA to prevent you distributing your code, whether by sale or otherwise. Provided it's not plagiarised, it's your intellectual property. Hence you won't find anything in the EULA discussing that. Indeed, you'll also find plenty of people selling templates of various kinds, some containing VBA code, others not, without attracting Microsoft's ire.

Thanks Macropod/Paul. What you say makes absolute sense. Thanks for confirming.


Stuart
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