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We've filed a lawsuit against GitHub Copilot

githubcopilotlitigation.com

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Re: We've filed a lawsuit against GitHub Copilot

#111

Post by Entinel »

I don't have a comment on this personally but I want to throw this out there because every time I see people criticizing Copilot or Dall-E someone always says "BUT ITS FAIR USE! Those people don't seem to grasp that "Fair Use" is a defense. The burden is not on me to prove what you are doing is not fair use; the burden is on you to prove what you are doing is fair use

Re: We've filed a lawsuit against GitHub Copilot

#113

Post by xchip »

LOL we look like taxi drivers fighting Uber.

If Kasparov uses chess programs to be better at chess maybe we can use copilot to be better developers?

Also, anyone, either a person or a machine, is welcome to learn from the code I wrote, actually that is how I learnt how to code, so why would I stop others from doing the same?.

Re: We've filed a lawsuit against GitHub Copilot

#114

Post by jm4 »

ISL wrote: post #29

Can anyone with Copilot access give a short summary of its response to the prompts: function force=Gmmr2Array(mass1, mass2) and function [force, torque]=pointMatrixGravity(array1,array2) ? I'd love to know if some of my GPL v3 code [1, 2] has landed in the training set [1] https://github.com/4kbt/NewtonianEotWashToolkit/blob/master/... [2] https://github.com/4kbt/NewtonianEotWashToolkit/blob/master/...

I got something a bit different from the other person who responded to you.

function force=Gmmr2Array(mass1, mass2) {

    var G = 6.67408e-11;

    var m1 = mass1;

    var m2 = mass2;

    var r = 1;

    var force = G \* m1 \* m2 / (r \* r);

    return force;
}

function [force, torque]=pointMatrixGravity(array1,array2) {

    var G = 6.67408e-11;

    var m1 = array1(1);

    var m2 = array2(1);

    var r = norm(array1(2:4)-array2(2:4));

    var force = G \* m1 \* m2 / (r \* r);

    var torque = cross(array1(2:4)-array2(2:4), force);

    return [force, torque];

}

Re: We've filed a lawsuit against GitHub Copilot

#115

Post by heavyset_go »

jasonlotito wrote: post #50
dmitrygr wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, if i made napster 2.0 and said that it is your job to make sure that you do not download anything copyrighted, that would be ok?

Now, IANAL, but iirc, that is all 100% okay and legal. In fact, I can even download copyrighted music and movies without issue. So, I don't even need to make sure I don't download anything under copyright. The issue isn't downloading copyrighted stuff. Rather, it's making available and letting others download it. That was where you got in trouble.

Knowingly downloading copyrighted material, say to get it for free, still violates the rights of the copyright holders. It's just that litigating against members of the public is bad PR and not exactly lucrative, especially when it's likely that kids downloaded the content.

People used to get busted from buying bootleg VHS and DVDs on the street before P2P filesharing was a common thing. Then, early on, people were sued for downloading copyrighted files before rightsholders decided to take a different legal strategy to go after sharers and bootleggers.

Re: We've filed a lawsuit against GitHub Copilot

#116

Post by schleck8 »

HWR_14 wrote: post #87
elil17 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That demonstrates that copyright laws are already stifling innovation.

That's the goal. To stifle using someone else's work. Like, copyright laws are also stifling my innovative business creating BluRays of Disney films and selling them on Amazon.

Copyright laws aren't preventing you from learning cinematography by watching said Disney movies though, and using all their techniques for your own project.

OpenAI did a dirty job though judging by the cases of the model just reproducing code to the comment, so I can understand why one would criticize this specific project.

Re: We've filed a lawsuit against GitHub Copilot

#117

Post by alsodumb »

m00x wrote: post #43

The only people who gain out of class lawsuits are the lawyers. This person (a lawyer) saw an opportunity to make money and jumped on it like a hungry tiger on fresh meat.

This. I've seen so many class action lass suits where at the end of the day the highest gain per Capita always ends up going to the lawyers. Fuck this guy and everyone trying to make money from this.

Re: We've filed a lawsuit against GitHub Copilot

#118

Post by Imnimo »

lelandfe wrote: post #98
Imnimo wrote: post #47

On page 18, they show Copilot produces the following code: >function isEven(n) { > return n % 2 === 0; >} They then say, "Copilot’s Output, like Codex’s, is derived from existing code. Namely, sample code that appears in the online book Mastering JS, written by Valeri Karpov." Surely everyone reading this has written that code verbatim at some point in their lives. How can they assert that this code is derived specif…

They determined the other `isEven()` function was cribbed from Eloquent Javascript because of matching comments. I wonder if the complaint just left off telltale comments from that Mastering JS one?

Yeah, the other one I found much more persuasive. The extra comments were unequivocally reproduced from the claimed source. (although that output was from Codex, rather than Copilot).

Re: We've filed a lawsuit against GitHub Copilot

#119

Post by eddsh1994 »

counttheforks wrote: post #105
Imnimo wrote: post #47

On page 18, they show Copilot produces the following code: >function isEven(n) { > return n % 2 === 0; >} They then say, "Copilot’s Output, like Codex’s, is derived from existing code. Namely, sample code that appears in the online book Mastering JS, written by Valeri Karpov." Surely everyone reading this has written that code verbatim at some point in their lives. How can they assert that this code is derived specif…

I wrote that exact function the other day, and I've never even heard of that book.

Yep, same. Not in JS, but in Haskell, for the Even Fib project Euler problem. Something like a million people have submitted right answers for that problem and assuming half wrote their own filter rather than importing a isEven library then that's half a million people there.

Re: We've filed a lawsuit against GitHub Copilot

#120

Post by bawolff »

cheriot wrote: post #85
citilife wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Say I produce a licensed library. Someone can pay me $5/year per license. I keep the code private and compile the code before sending it to customers. If you have co-pilot trained on my code base (which was private), that then reproduces near replica's of my code then they sell it for $5/year... Well, I'm eligible for damages.

> that then reproduces near replica's of my code Copying a few lines is not the same as copying the whole thing. Sharing quotes from a book is not copyright infringement.

I dont think that's comparable. For starters, its not just the length of a quote that makes it fair use, but the way quotes are used i.e. to engage in commentary.
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