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If I wrote a code by myself, which I know is my code because I myself have thought about the logic and code while developing it.

But if the same logic and code was thought by somebody else and is used by somebody else, what am I supposed to do if a plagiarism check happens?

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    Do you mean copyright rather than plagiarism? Plagiarism isn’t a legal concept - it’s an academic one.
    – Dale M
    Jul 26, 2020 at 7:02
  • Ok I get it now. I wanted to mean copyright then.
    – sahilverma
    Jul 26, 2020 at 11:06

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If it's patented then it doesn't matter that you independently came up with it. Most software is not patented, though. Most developers do not even think about patents when writing code. In theory you could spend your time keeping up to date on software patents so that you avoid infringing. But this probably only makes sense for specialists who would want to read the latest patents in their field anyway.

All software is protected by literary copyright, though. In this case they will try to prove that you did not independently created it, and did copy it. Whelan v. Jaslow in 1986 ruled that structure, sequence and organization of a computer program were protected by copyright. So you could be liable even if you did not just copy and paste sections of code. But even if you're worried the court would get things wrong and think you copied a program when you never even saw it in the first place, there is really nothing you can do about it.

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  • Wait I can get in trouble for copying and pasting code? But Stack Exchange wouldn't exist for you to post this answer without all of us copy and pasting each other's code!!
    – dsollen
    Jan 12, 2021 at 0:43

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