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This is the same website that rejoiced when Oracle v Google resulted in a Google victory, despite Google arguably doing similar. They did so with 11,000 lines o

This is the same website that rejoiced when Oracle v Google resulted in a Google victory, despite Google arguably doing similar. They did so with 11,000 lines of Oracle's code, but it was decided to be fair use. If that's the case... I don't think a regurgitation of 12 lines of GPL code by accident here and there will be a strong argument against fair use. Adding to that: How many people here actually abide by the StackOverflow contribution license of CC-BY-SA when copying and pasting code from there? ;)

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
Scaevolus 3y ago
11,000 lines of _declaring_ code-- the API signatures.
- seanhandley 3y ago
  Defining the “what” is just as much a part of the intellectual property as defining the “how”. Both things are hard to do well IMHO
  - wtallis 3y ago
    > Both things are hard to do well IMHO That's not really a factor in determining what's eligible for copyright protection.
    - seanhandley 3y ago
      Indeed. They’re both eligible.
- jiofj 3y ago
  The API signatures were arguably the only thing that mattered.
  - bdowling 3y ago
    The API signatures were arguably the only part that was copyrightable. Code that is purely utilitarian (see “useful articles doctrine”) isn’t a work of human expression that is copyrightable.
hollerith 3y ago
>How many people here actually abide by the StackOverflow contribution license of CC-BY-SA when copying and pasting code from there? I always thought that code snippets that small are not considered by the Courts to be eligible for 'copyright protection'.
- gjsman-1000 3y ago
  In that case, is Copilot regurgitating 25 or so lines of GPL code, less than 1% of the time, eligible for copyright protection?
  - CameronNemo 3y ago
    Why do you think it would only be 25 lines?
    - gjsman-1000 3y ago
      Because that is about, so far, the longest piece of clearly, demonstrably unique code that has ever been shown to have been copied. The longest you’d ever be able to clearly convince a court with, at least. https://twitter.com/DocSparse/status/1581461734665367554/photo/1 https://twitter.com/DocSparse/status/1581461734665367554/pho...
- organsnyder 3y ago
  I always include a comment with the SO URL (though I haven't copied any code from SO in quite some time—it's not nearly as useful as it used to be).
flatline 3y ago
I do think this is relevant to the conversation. I don’t copy/paste code from SO but there is sometimes inevitable duplication because sometimes there is only one right way to do something! Copyright can stray into the case of the ridiculous pretty quickly. Is an interface declaration inherently different from, say, a merge sort implementation? It’s all code. But they also serve very different purposes. I do not think prior to Google v Oracle there was much case law to distinguish between different types of code, but in the industry we recognize all kinds of nuance.
heavyset_go 3y ago
I'm not HN.

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[deleted]

Scaevolus 3y ago

11,000 lines of _declaring_ code-- the API signatures.

seanhandley 3y ago
Defining the “what” is just as much a part of the intellectual property as defining the “how”. Both things are hard to do well IMHO
- wtallis 3y ago
  > Both things are hard to do well IMHO That's not really a factor in determining what's eligible for copyright protection.
  - seanhandley 3y ago
    Indeed. They’re both eligible.
jiofj 3y ago
The API signatures were arguably the only thing that mattered.
- bdowling 3y ago
  The API signatures were arguably the only part that was copyrightable. Code that is purely utilitarian (see “useful articles doctrine”) isn’t a work of human expression that is copyrightable.

hollerith 3y ago

>How many people here actually abide by the StackOverflow contribution license of CC-BY-SA when copying and pasting code from there? I always thought that code snippets that small are not considered by the Courts to be eligible for 'copyright protection'.

gjsman-1000 3y ago
In that case, is Copilot regurgitating 25 or so lines of GPL code, less than 1% of the time, eligible for copyright protection?
- CameronNemo 3y ago
  Why do you think it would only be 25 lines?
  - gjsman-1000 3y ago
    Because that is about, so far, the longest piece of clearly, demonstrably unique code that has ever been shown to have been copied. The longest you’d ever be able to clearly convince a court with, at least. https://twitter.com/DocSparse/status/1581461734665367554/photo/1 https://twitter.com/DocSparse/status/1581461734665367554/pho...
organsnyder 3y ago
I always include a comment with the SO URL (though I haven't copied any code from SO in quite some time—it's not nearly as useful as it used to be).

flatline 3y ago

I do think this is relevant to the conversation. I don’t copy/paste code from SO but there is sometimes inevitable duplication because sometimes there is only one right way to do something! Copyright can stray into the case of the ridiculous pretty quickly. Is an interface declaration inherently different from, say, a merge sort implementation? It’s all code. But they also serve very different purposes. I do not think prior to Google v Oracle there was much case law to distinguish between different types of code, but in the industry we recognize all kinds of nuance.

heavyset_go 3y ago

I'm not HN.