[AccessD] Database Patent

A downside of being an attorney is that some people may take me
seriously and even consider what I say to be legal advice for which I
could be held liable.  So I am reluctant to say much on a forum like
this when I have no idea who may be listening.  But having said that, I
will make a few general comments (based on US law) that I think are
safe, in response to some comments made and questions posed:

No matter how highly creative, novel, or distinctive they may be,
individual words and "short" phrases, including "snippets of code", are
not protected by copyright.

Thus, in response to Susan's concerns below, no one owns the copyright
to "snippets of code" since they are not copyrightable in the first
place, and thus the fair use exception does not apply either.

Someone said slogans are copyrightable, but under US law, like the
foregoing, slogans, names, and titles are not copyrightable.  However,
these items may be protectable under trademark laws.

Regards,
Jack Stone

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Michael
Maddison
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2007 7:53 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Database Patent

Indeed.  Makes me laugh when I find code made available on the net that
has copyright ME 
written in the header, especially when the code is something like

Declare GetWindowHWND blah blah

I = GetWindowHWND 


cheers

Michael M

But who's the copyright with? How many people use these snippets of
code?
Thousands and thousands -- who owns them? 

Susan H. 

The fair use exception to copyright owner's rights allows for that.


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