### Comment:
The one size answer is code should be protected by copyright, which they are. You can't just copy the entire thing. 
  
 But code shouldn't be patentable - it's an algorithm, which at it's core can be reduced to math - and math is fundamentally **not** patentable.

### REPLY:
'Math isn't patentable' does seem like sort of a semantics game to me, though.  Mechanical and electronic designs can also be reduced to mathematical descriptions if you try hard enough.

### END.