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    I don't see anything in here that says that copying a snippet of code cannot be fair use. It explains the criteria that will be used to judge whether your use is fair use, if you get sued. Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 16:00
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    The list is intended to be exemplary, not complete. That's why it contains the words "such as". If the code is largely functional, only a small section of the original work is taken, and the two works do not compete in the market, it's quite possible courts would find fair use. Commented Sep 4, 2011 at 4:00
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    And what qualifications do you have to "expound on the law", @Huperniketes? You've written this as though you are quoting an authority that definitively shows copying code not to be fair use, but in fact you're just performing your own interpretation of statute without even citing any case law. Commented Feb 20, 2015 at 22:23
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    That's actually irrelevant to my point. The problem is that a list set off with "such as" is not exhaustive in any version of English, not even the bizarre English-from-Mars that attorneys speak on a day-to-day basis. The list you italicized is a list of examples, nothing more. It contributes nothing whatsoever to the actual meaning of the law, beyond acting as a hint to judges and lawyers about the general intentions of the lawmakers. Fair use is an incredibly gray area of law, and presenting any part of it in such black-and-white terms does your readers an enormous disservice. Commented Mar 4, 2015 at 3:29
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    @Huperniketes, you claim I am making idiotic assertions without knowing the material when I have asserted nothing about the law. You are the one making the legal claim - that, contrary to a plain English reading, your italicized passage shows that copying code snippets into software can never be fair use. I am sceptical of that claim, but sure, I don't know any case law to support or disprove it. Which is why I'm not making factual claims. The burden of evidence is on you if you want to be believed, but you've chosen to sneer at and insult those who neutrally ask you to show evidence. Commented Mar 7, 2015 at 14:01