July 08, 2003
Ethics - "Plagiarizing" code
I am building a site which must validate as XHTML compliant. This site also uses dropdown menus for navigation. The code I had been using for dropdown menus does not work when using a proper XHTML DOCTYPE - the menus appear in the top left of the browser window. (Take the DOCTYPE out altogether or put in an HTML 3.2 one, and they work perfectly.)
After much research, testing, and experiementing the only code that I found to both work for my purposes and also validate was code written for the cingular.com site.
I altered the design of these menus, but the basic underlying functionality was straight from the Cingular site. Being a scrupulous and generally ethical person, I decided that I needed to investigate whether I could use this code from a legal standpoint. So, I wrote the team leader of the cingular.com develpment team, one Brandy Fortune - the media diva herself - and asked her to investigate what it would take to get permission to use these menus.
She responded that she thought that since, a) there was no copyright statement in the code, b) the code is pretty much open source, and c) I was willing to give credit to the original developers that I should feel fairly safe in using the code.
I agreed, but felt the need to get a professional legal opinion. My friend Rob was the first to respond:
Posted by jtnt at July 8, 2003 06:28 PM in Web Development | TrackBack
I wouldnt call me the leader of the development team.. heh.. that might get me in trouble at work :)
Posted by: brandy at May 5, 2004 02:20 PM