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I have a very simple question. I have been watching some tutorials online regarding Android Java Programming and Firebase. A particular Youtuber does tutorials that are open to everyone and he shows his source code, however in his description he has a URL where he sells the source code to any of his apps on Fiverr. If I use his code from his Youtube tutorial videos, am I free to use it without paying for his Fiverr source code. (Also the only code I have used from this person relates to simple Firebase queries and other simplistic code that other Youtubers have done tutorials on).

Your opinion would be greatly appreciated!

Mr. Octodood
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    This question cannot be answered as-is. The license of his source code states what you may do with it. If you are given no rights, you have no license and no contract you have no right to use or reproduce his source code, even when he shows it on YouTube or sells it elsewhere or even offers it for download. Granting you (certain) rights on use of material is the sole reason for licenses. Read it. – planetmaker Mar 22 '20 at 07:01
  • @planetmaker Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it. – Mr. Octodood Mar 22 '20 at 13:31
  • @curiousdannii okay i will check it out – Mr. Octodood Mar 22 '20 at 13:35
  • What do you mean by "use"? Just imagine another scenario, imagine that you watch a video about learning French on YouTube. The video is copyrighted (by default) and no reproduction is allowed at all. Does that mean you are not allowed to reproduce any of the words that you learn on that video? Not at all. Any kind of common idea that you learn, you are always allowed to reproduce.

    However, are you allowed to verbatim copy (or make a derivative work) of that learning French video to make your own learning French video? Of course not! That is basically what copyright is for. Copyright = copy.

     – Brandin Mar 24 '20 at 09:32

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No. The simple fact that the code is being shown in a (tutorial) video does not give you the right to copy/transcribe that code.

To use code written by others, you need to have a copyright license and unless the video or description mentions an open-source copyright license for the code being shown, you most likely don't have one.

What you are allowed to do is to take the ideas being explained in the video and write your own code based on those ideas.

Bart van Ingen Schenau
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    I agree. I also think that similar permissions would apply if the video itself were marked with some kind of open licence, which might be particularly helpful if the video were under some kind of free licence which permitted conversion into a free-code licence, in the way that (eg) CC BY-SA-4 does. – MadHatter Mar 22 '20 at 08:25
  • @MadHatter Thank you for your feedback it is appreciated! – Mr. Octodood Mar 22 '20 at 13:33
  • So what should I do with a program that used many many other Youtube tutorials and website tutorials as well? Track down every single person and ask them? Or just discard my whole program? I'm very confused! – Mr. Octodood Mar 22 '20 at 13:44
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    It really depends on what "used" means in this context. The idea of how a for loop works or how a certain algorithm works cannot be copyrighted; and usually a tutorial teaches an idea and there's only limited variations on how a for loop can look like. But if it gets down to publishing the result of a comprehensive tutorial which ends with a working version of whatever - then the result cannot be (re)published without license or express permission. So yes, get permission from everyone who contributed a substantial, non-trivial or essential part. – planetmaker Mar 22 '20 at 14:51
  • @planetmaker Oh ok, this clarifies a lot. Thanks again. – Mr. Octodood Mar 22 '20 at 16:05
  • @Mr.Octodood So if you wrote an essay in German and you used 5 different German textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedia, and so in, order to learn the skills to write that essay, would you think that you need to cite every one? Maybe you could do so in a university or scholarly publication, but no there is no legal requirement to do so. Copyright protects copying not using. – Brandin Mar 24 '20 at 09:35
  • @Brandin yes that makes sense as well. Thanks. – Mr. Octodood Mar 24 '20 at 15:44