OpenAI, GitHub Beat Digital Copyright Claims From Programmers

OpenAI Inc. and GitHub Inc. escaped legal claims from open-source software programmers alleging the artificial intelligence coding tool Copilot replicated their code without proper copyright notices and licensing information.

Judge Jon S. Tigar on Friday unsealed a ruling dismissing the programmers’ claims based on violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, ruling they’d failed to show their code was reproduced identically, as required under the act. But the judge did allow the programmers’ claims accusing the tech companies of violating open-source license agreements to proceed.

The ruling is the latest in the evolving legal battle between copyright owners accusing generative ...