You almost certainly own the copyright. Go and see your legal advisor.
Bill Gates owns nothing that *you* have designed in Word.
The only grey issues concern the use of some of Microsoft's artwork that you
may have included.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org






Karen wrote:
Who owns the copyright on graphic design layouts prepared in MS Word?

I designed a professional layout for a retail catalog using MS Word
and custom graphics, saved as Adobe PDF for easy download. The design
is used by several clients, who save money because it's simple to
change the colour scheme, logo and product range. Each client who
uses the template receives notification that the design is copyright
to me - they avoid high graphic design fees based on this agreement.

But... one of those clients duplicated my design and refuses to pay or
remove it from her web site. She's earned thousands of dollars from
stealing my design, so I'm pretty angry about it. She says Bill Gates
owns the copyright of everything designed in Word, so I want to check
before I spend money on legal advice.

I doubt very much if Microsoft owns copyright on everything
written/designed in Word. What do you think?