The misappropriation of the code (a trade secret) would likely be grounds for legal action against the people who stole it and the people who received it. A lo

The misappropriation of the code (a trade secret) would likely be grounds for legal action against the people who stole it and the people who received it. A lot depends on jurisdiction. But if it was made public and then if an unrelated third party were to re-write the code in such a way that it was non-infringing, then it would be non-infringing. That’s just a tautology.