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Well, here's a question. Is GitHub violating the LGPL by including the code in their copilot data? Or is it Copilot users who end up using the regurgitated code?

I guess GitHub is violating it the instant their servers send verbatim snippets like this to developers without the copyright notice. And then the Copilot users are also violating it when (if) they release their code that contains verbatim snippets and no notice.

This is a pretty good live experiment on how useful these open source licenses really are. This guy find his license is being violated, so what does he do? If complaining on Twitter seems like the best course of action then maybe we need to rethink the system.



> Is GitHub violating the LGPL by including the code in their copilot data?

If Microsoft’s fair use analysis is correct, not actionably (at least under US law) because it is within the fair use exception to copyright.

> Or is it Copilot users who end up using the regurgitated code?

These aren't exclusive options; either, both, or neither could be true.


If the license requires attribution and Github is not providing it (which it isn’t), then yes, Github is violating the license.


Right, so who's going to do something about it? People seem to be complaining about it on Twitter but I'm not sure what the expected result is.


Raising awareness is usually a step before a class-action lawsuit.




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