On Dec 19, 2007, at 10:50 AM, Rob Heittman wrote:
Specifically because this is a pretty straightforward idea to implement, it's likely that any version I type in is going to look substantially similar to what the original author typed in. Is the fact that I typed it with reference to the idea, instead of actually bitwise copying it from an implementation, enough to satisfy copyright?
Again, as long as you didn't look at the original source, it's irrelevant what your code looks like (in theory). FYI: copyright protects only the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. To protect an idea itself, you need a patent. However, algorithms aren't patentable.
I said "in theory" because if you were sued for copyright infringement and it turns out that your code looks astonishingly similar to the original, a jury might not believe you even if you truthfully didn't look at the original.
However, for such a small amount of code and, in the grand scheme of things, code that doesn't really matter, I doubt any author would spend lots of time and money suing you especially since, aside from preventing continued infringement on your part, he wouldn't gain anything (monetarily or otherwise, really).
- Paul
