I think that in general, so long as you cite the source, copying small snippits of code to answer someone's questions is fine. Technically, copyright law is supposed to protect an author's economic rights to profit from their work. So if you tried to sell code that is protected by copyright, or used it in order to produce something that you would sell (for instance, taking code right out of a book and putting it into software that you intend to sell), that's stealing. But, referencing a book when teaching someone something (assuming you are not charging them for the teaching) should be okay. Consider that the person asking the question would probably not go out and buy the book simply because you tell them that the Cookbook has an answer to their question, so you're not exactly taking money out of the pockets of authors. But, if the Cookbook answer is helpful, they might be more inclined to buy the book in case it come in handy the next time they get stuck. ivory

In reply to Re: Fair Use When Referring to Book Answers? by ivory
in thread Fair Use When Referring to Book Answers? by Guildenstern

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