because I didn't copyright it.
One of the (obvious) reasons that software is not patentable is that it is subject to copyright law not patent law. if you had placed a copyright notice into the software text that should have been sufficient. HOWEVER, most / many / all / employers claim copyright and patent right over software developed and/or inventions that are developed during the employment hours. in my past job they even claimed those if i had done the work after hours on my own equipment and resources.
some of these things work differently in the academic world - that same employer accorded ALL copyright and patent right to an academic but not a technician. one of the principles in academic world is that its
original not necessarily
new or
innovative.
i guess software, as
@Beja pointed out, is treated more as discovery than as invention, hence one can only copyright it and not patent it.
these are the things we have learned over the years.
i suppose that your employer back then didn't have the mean-minded bean-counters of today and didn't work out that there was a saleable product (dropped the ball), even though they would have claimed a lot of priority on copyrights and patents in general.
but, yes, many of us have fallen foul of the same thing. BTW was the lawyer correct in saying this was SHAREWARE what should have been said is that it had become OPEN SOURCE since no direct claim had been made. In my experience shareware has a request for donation (a solicitation for compensation on use, not a charge). I suppose, though, that in THOSE days it was pre-OPEN SOURCE and so SHAREWARE : the "term of the time".
the great thing about this forum and B4X, in general, is that the participants attitude to tools, methods and techniques is OPEN SOURCE, {well, granted, some request donations} while, quite appropriately, retaining their claim to the resultant products. that is fresh air after a lifetime of working world garbage......
(BTW if one uses the resources found in the forum, the copyright notice would need to be specific about which is the part that one coded/ wrote, and, there should be an acknowlegement/ credits panel to other developers for their supporting contributions, also, a statement that the package was developed using B4X engine. one could work out a boilerplate statement - might be difficult remembering who they all are.)