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Sometimes a GitHub Gist contains carefully crafted code that seems to qualify for what the Apache License would call a "original work of authorship", but the as far as I can tell the author never selected or knowingly agreed upon a license.

Is there a default license for content on gists.github.com?

What I assume is that code published in this way is not considered to be a complete work but only an example and can therefore be copied and used with or without credit to the original author.

eradman
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    In addition to the duplicate question (what is the default license), you raise the issue of copyrightability. Many copyright systems require some degree of non-obviousness and creativity to be protected by copyright. But quantity is not the only mark of creativity: a short Haiku or Limerick poem, or a single-line APL program would certainly be protected, whereas 5MB of logfiles would be not. If in doubt, assume that a work (e.g. a non-trivial code snippet) is protected. Also note that merely crediting the author does not give you permission to use the creative work! – amon Nov 14 '15 at 09:41
  • Note also that in some jurisdictions, software programs are exempt from the copyrightability bar. I think it used to be this way in Germany, for example. – Jörg W Mittag Nov 14 '15 at 13:18
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    I don't agree this being marked as a duplicate as the question is specific to GitHub Gists. It could be that the Gists site has an implicit license definition for published code snippets similar to StackOverflow implying the MIT License for code contributions. – sschuberth Aug 08 '16 at 13:12
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    Github says a Gist is a Git repository, which means at least that everyone is allowed to view and fork a public Gists according to GitHub's TOS. – kapex Feb 16 '17 at 15:09
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    Some people do this: https://gist.github.com/martinbuberl/c0de29e623a1e34d1cda7e817d18bafe – fodma1 Dec 27 '17 at 05:05
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    @kapex I'm not sure that would hold up in court. – Ryan Leach Oct 29 '18 at 23:39
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    @fodma1 it is easier to just write "Gists under MIT license" in your profile description like people write "Tweets CC BY" in there Twitter profile description. – baptx Sep 27 '19 at 15:40

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