

MSFT Word's autoshape: is it copyright protected?  - dover5203

I wish to have users on my website the ability to draw shapes (similar to what you find in Microsoft Word "autoshape"). Shapes such as arrows, circles, etc. My questions are:
1) Is this protected by Microsoft?
2) If yes, are there similar codes (not copyright to program shapes?)
3) How difficult is it to write a program, where the user is given the opportunity to draw shapes on a website?<p>Sorry in advance if this is all elementary questions. I am a non-techie and trying to learn.
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brudgers
1\. Drawing shapes on the computer is not protected by microsoft copyright or
patents. The actual code is and the name "Autoshape" may be. 2\.
<http://code.google.com/p/svg-edit/> 3\. Doing it well is not trivial.

For the web I'd recommend SVG
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Vector_Graphics>

