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This article discuss the question of whether a "hello world" program is protected by copyright. It comes to the conclusions that it is not (under US copyright law) because most of it is required by the implementation leaving only the phrase "hello, world" which by itself is too trivial to be copyrightable.

I believe the same reasoning would apply for my jurisdiction which is the UK.

I would like to know how to reason about this. At what point does something become non trivial so that copyright applies?

Things I think should not matter:

  • names of variables or functions
  • the order of operations where the order does not matter

Things I am less sure of:

  • commentary describing what the code is doing
  • adding a unit test suite
  • adding a build system

I have a specific example in mind but am making that a separate question. The point of the question here is if you are working your employer owns the copyright. Obviously it is correct to ask permission to publish from your employer. This question asks if it is necessary for trivial cases such as:

  • asking a question on stackoverflow
  • publishing a project or 'gist' explaining how to do something (which might also be an answer to stackoverflow question).

Related questions:

Bruce Adams
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  • Have you read this question, and if so, what remains unanswered in your question? – MadHatter Jul 06 '22 at 15:24
  • Yes. Its linked in the question. Here I'm looking for advice on what inclusions definitely do or don't push something over the edge of triviality. The answer to the linked question is more concerned about correct attribution. – Bruce Adams Jul 06 '22 at 15:50
  • The answer concentrates on attribution because that's what the OP there asks, but the attribution requirement arises from the copyrightability of the copied code. The first two paras give some pretty clear evidence that nine lines of code are copyrightable, so you can only be looking for an answer that applies to smaller pieces of code than that. Are you looking for a bright line de minimis test for a piece of copied code, and if so, how big is this code? – MadHatter Jul 06 '22 at 15:57
  • That case was in the US. I am interested in the UK. I'm also not sure that the precedent set by the google oracle case is a good one. To me it seems like an example of the best lawyer won not the law was correctly interpreted but I have not followed that case. I don't know what you mean by "bright line test" but some kind of step by step process could be part of the answer. – Bruce Adams Jul 06 '22 at 16:03
  • You're interested in the UK, to which you think the google case doesn't apply - but your answer starts by saying a US analysis would probably apply in the UK. I will wait and let the community express their opinion on this pair of questions, but I repeat my warning from elsewhere about purely-theoretical questions being off-topic for this site. If you're asking about a particular piece of code, it would be most helpful to see it. – MadHatter Jul 06 '22 at 16:09
  • A legal precedent in the US will not apply in the UK but the analysis of basic copyright law should be roughly applicable. I don't think it is confirmation bias or a distrust of the US legal system but it could be. – Bruce Adams Jul 06 '22 at 16:49
  • The linked question (https://opensource.stackexchange.com/q/12998/5925) is more specific though obviously I cannot post the actual code unless the answer to the question turns out to be yes or my company's lawyers agree. – Bruce Adams Jul 06 '22 at 16:50
  • If you have company lawyers, why not ask them if the relevant chunk of code is complex enough to be covered by copyright? If it is, you have your answer. If it isn't, no harm posting it here. – MadHatter Jul 06 '22 at 16:55
  • The company has lawyers I do not have access to them. I am lobbying for an open source policy to be created but as low-level employee in a big company my voice is very small. In a way these questions are about where that can be worked around without changing jobs – Bruce Adams Jul 06 '22 at 16:59
  • Like a lot of things in law, the line is probably blurry. If you're in the middle of the line and you get sued, there's some chance the judge will see it your way, and some chance the judge will see the plaintiff's way. The more likely the judge is to see it your way, the less chance the plaintiff will bother suing in the first place. Most people try to stay on the "definitely okay" side of the line, which is why cleanroom reverse engineering is a thing. – user253751 Jul 09 '22 at 17:18

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