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Judge dismisses lawsuit over GitHub Copilot coding assistant

GitHub, its owner Microsoft and OpenAI free to train on code samples despite DMCA.

The suit was filed by Matthew Butterick, a lawyer and open-source programmer, in conjunction with Joseph Saveri Law Firm. In a document providing background on the case the law firm said it “represents the first major step in the battle against intellectual-property violations in the tech industry arising from artificial intelligence systems,” and went on to argue that, “Despite Microsoft’s protestations to the contrary, it does not have the right to treat source code offered under an open-source license as if it were in the public domain.” In a decision first announced on June 24, but only unsealed and made public on July 5, California Northern District judge Jon S. Tigar wrote that “In sum, plaintiff’s claims do not support the remedy they seek.

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