Proprietary laws for code use

General
1

Hi,

I just realized that I interchange code with the members of the community and I was wondering if there are any legal restrictions related to the use of code written by another person. For instance, I may ask a question and receive code as a response. Am I free yo use that code that has been written by another person? Are there any proprietary laws related to the use of code copied from a public forum, or ownership?

Thanks

2

See
https://forum.posit.co/tos

3

Thanks for your reply. How do I know that the code published by someone in the forum is copyrighted, and I should not reproduce it, or reproduce it only under the terms of the creative commons? Please see below

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

  • NonCommercial — You may not use the material for [commercial purposes]

  • ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the [same license]as the original.

  • No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or [technological measures] that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

4

I'm not a lawyer, and, if you're concerned about this, I definitely recommend that you consult with one —open-source licensing, IP, and copyright law is highly nuanced, and something that can't really be addressed in a blanket manner that applies to all scenarios.

Some resources of possible interest:

https://legalict.com/2016/01/07/what-is-the-license-status-of-stackoverflow-code-snippets/

2 Likes
5

Thank you very much for sending the info.