Can I sell the spreadsheet I created?

[lionstud31]

I have created a personal financial excel spreadsheet that I have been using to keep track of budgets and other fun things. People who have seen the spreadsheet have told me I should sell it. I was wondering if that would be legal, or if Microsoft has some copyright that wouldn't allow me to sell the spreadsheet I created. Does anyone know for sure?

 

[Emanresux]

I'm not sure if if you can sell it but i was suprised to find that there is
nothing stopping you using the Free(Express) editions of the various Microsoft languages(VB, C# etc) for buisness or comercial use.

I would assume the same applies to VBA

 

[Smitty]

Provided no one can lay claim to it or a portion thereof (i.e. someone's template that you copied and modified), then sell away.

Microsoft has the right to Excel, not what you can create with it.

I.E. Dell can't claim your app because you created it on a Dell.

Good luck!

Smitty

 

[lionstud31]

well that's good to know. Thank you for your responses. Just one more question. Is there a way to protect the spreadsheet from other people stealing it and selling it themselves? Like is there someway of password protecting the file so nobody but me can send it? Would I need to copyright it to be able to have claim to it?

 

[Smitty]

Is there a way to protect the spreadsheet from other people stealing it and selling it themselves?

No. Period.

There are all kinds of things that you can do to try, but the bottom line is if someone wants to steal, break, modify or somehow tinker with your Excel creation they can. Think of it like the lock on your front door; all you're doing is keeping honest people honest.

Do a board search for things like "Kill on date", "auto-expiring workbook", "distributing workbooks", etc. There have been a lot of in depth discussions on this topic.

Smitty
You're best off writing a good EULA and collecting up front.