Question

Members at work have come across a C# project posted on Google code that provides a nice solution to a problem they have in a current project. What are the implications/restrictions on using those ideas (or in some cases code snippets) to use in their own project?

I must express that my colleagues are not trying to rip off somebody else’s code and call it their own, but like the way that the Google project is structured and tackles a specific problem. I believe they are looking to refactor their code to a similar architecture and use one or two code snippets from the source code.

The code itself does not come with any licence or terms just a solution.

I have never come across this before but don’t want to get involved doing this work if it I could be liable to comebacks. I have suggested that some form of recognition be added to the code pages that use any snippets.

Thanks

Answer 1

If there are no license or terms you cannot use any code snippets from the original work. Ask the creator of the original work for permission to use it in the way you like.