Reinstall Office 03 after laptop died

[francisi1]

New guy here.

I purchased Office 03 when it was first released. Since that time I've been through several laptops.
I never bothered to look into installing the Office program on the new laptops because my company issued laptops always had it.
Now, however, I'm retired and would like to install it on my personal machine.
I tried to contact MS but they charge $39 to answer a question.
I do have the original packaging, disks and product key.
In my view, since I purchased the program, I have ownership rights and should be able to replace it after a computer dies.
Why do I expect that Microsoft will take a different stance.
Just looking for some advice.
Thanks in advance!

Frank