Well, at risk of sounding pompous, I guess it works like this, in civil suits, you, "the guilty party" have to prove that, "the angelic creator" is in the wrong, and you have to be able to pay to prove it, since the creators will be the one's getting the damages claimed against you, and you have to stomach the legal fees. This is how the Scientologists do it, they simply sue the little guy, knowing full well that they can't afford to prove them wrong. It sucks, but we have a legal system, not a "justice" system. I think you'll find that "the law" says that ignorance is no defense, "my dog ate the readme file..." tough! I'm not a lawyer, ("but I use brand X, Mmmm, tastes good!" :) but I think you'll find that the applicable law is "fair use" part of the copyright law. Copyright is a fairly informal law, it says that all you have to do is prove you, wrote/built/published the said item for copyright to subsist on that item, at which point if you sell it, then it's against the law for others to use it without paying. You get to use parts, (but not all) of it for personal use only, but if you use any of it comercially, you have to pay. Think karaoke, then think "sampling" or "covering" records. Something can be public domain, but still copyright, think the GPL, the GNU Public License, (commonly known as "copyleft") which says you can do what the hell you want with the code, feed it to grandma, burn it as part of some wierd satanic ritual, use it as a frisbee, or even (shock horror!) create programs with it. What you can't do is sell it without the "owners" permission, and if you change it, it must be made available like the rest of it. Nothings says you can't "embrace and extend"/"innovate" (Copyright Bill Gates, AKA "the devil" :) but the part that the copyright subsists on, belongs to you and you can use lawyers with impunity. So mote it be! Linux, (our last best hope against the "evil empire" tm :) is protected by the GPL, if you stick it on a bit of code, (any bit of code) then you (and it) are covered, it's a legal document. I'd suggest that anyone really interested in such things points thier browser at www.gnu.org where it's explained in detail and available for free. Like the man says, "think freedom of speech, not free beer!" :) What's to stop you from not tipping your hat to the man who's model your using, the fear of what might happen if you don't. later jb