Cory! copyright

still looking as i'm interested myself, but i'm quite prepared to go with my orginal theory of yes. as you can copyright your workbook if so desired and mircosoft have to (c) there own code, it is just a tool atfer all. another thing is if you develope a picture in photshop, say, just because you use one of photoshop's filters does not allow adobe to own the picture, same with hammers and furnature :) like to see Stanley tell me they owned my bed just because i used there saws and hammers, they'd have to fight with Dewalt. also the fact that you can add a digital signiture to vba leads me to the same conclusion.

but you might want to check

http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/

it's different over here and i didn't want to plough through a load of infonot relavent to me.

here's what i got from the microsoft, but i've e.mailed also:

Important Licensing Information
The stencils, masters, and templates provided with Visio are copyrighted material, owned by Microsoft Corporation and protected by United States copyright laws and international treaty provisions.
As a solutions developer, you cannot distribute any copyrighted master provided with Microsoft Visio or through a Web-based subscription service, unless your user already has a licensed copy of Visio that includes that master, or your user has a valid subscription to the Web-based service, or you've signed an agreement that allows you to distribute individual masters to your users. This includes shapes you create by modifying or deriving shapes from copyrighted masters.
The Microsoft® Visual Basic® and C++ files of constants and global functions provided on the Developing Microsoft Visio Solutions CD are also copyrighted. You can include these files in your projects and use them to build executable programs. You cannot, however, distribute them to other developers unless they already have a licensed copy of the Developing Microsoft Visio Solutions CD that includes these files.
To copyright your original shapes, select a shape, click Special on the Format menu, and then enter copyright information in the Copyright box. After you enter copyright information in the Special dialog box, it cannot be changed in a drawing, stencil, or template file.

Note For complete details about licensing of masters and Visio products, see the End User License Agreement for Microsoft Software that is included with Visio.
Copyrights

Copyright subsists in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression. Literary works (including computer programs), musical works, dramatic works, pictorial, graphic and sculptural works, motion pictures and other audiovisual works, and sound recordings are all protected by US copyright law.
What Rights Are Granted to a Copyright Owner?
A copyright owner has the exclusive right to do and to authorize a number of acts:
· to make copies of the work,
· to prepare derivative works based upon the copyrighted work,
· to distribute copies of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending,
· to perform or display the copyrighted work publicly; and,
· to import the work.
For more information on US copyright law, see US Copyright Office.

YOU SHOULD ALSO CONSULT WITH YOUR OWN COPYRIGHT ATTORNEY ABOUT ANY PARTICULAR COPYRIGHT QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.

I know this is on about Visio but surely steering clear of templates and what not will do the trick.

hope this helps, i'll let you know if i get a response from microsoft.

Ian