> if a dev simply copied the entirety of someone's code and simply renamed some variables, could they claim it's their own original work (without worry of legal

> if a dev simply copied the entirety of someone's code and simply renamed some variables, could they claim it's their own original work (without worry of legal recourse)? I'd figure not, in which case, how much of a difference is different enough? This would most definitely not be enough. That would basically make all licenses useless - commercial and noncommercial alike. The MIT license is no different than any other license in that regard. In case of the MIT license, whenever I copy any code (files or parts), I always place a comment right next to the section, pointing to the source of the copy and containing the license of the code/copyright marker. Honestly, what’s the cost? My ego doesn’t take a hit from admitting that I found and adapted something useful. The possible uses of the code are unaffected. License situation is clarified for audits. The original author gets credit for their work. There’s only upsides.