The use of licensed code in other projects must be done under the terms of that license or you aren't legally (under copyright law) allowed to use the code.
The GitHub TOS is a license that is separate from the license in the code. It is legal and common for an author to license the same code multiple ways (and the licenses do not have to agree with each other). By agreeing to GitHub’s TOS and uploading code to GH servers, people are licensing GH to display the code, because the license agreement says so explicitly. This could be problematic if someone uploads code they don’t have the rights to upload, but then the violation is the uploader’s, and not GitHub’s.
Additionally, GH has a provision for already licensed code in section D.6:
“6. Contributions Under Repository License
“Whenever you add Content to a repository containing notice of a license, you license that Content under the same terms, and you agree that you have the right to license that Content under those terms. If you have a separate agreement to license that Content under different terms, such as a contributor license agreement, that agreement will supersede.
“Isn't this just how it works already? Yep. This is widely accepted as the norm in the open-source community; it's commonly referred to by the shorthand "inbound=outbound". We're just making it explicit.”
https://docs.github.com/en/github/site-policy/github-terms-o...
For the latter you would need redistribution as it is going into a different product, for which you claim ownership, and with possible modifications/adaptations (this would depend on the rights granted by the license). Nowhere on Github's TOS is the word or concept of redistribution referenced.
So, the answer to your original question is "no".
Edit: leereeves modified its comment after I wrote this, so it may not make much sense but you can figure out the point. Best!
(Edit and BTW GH calls out their ‘distribution’ in section D.4 of their TOS explicitly, but without using the word “distribute”. They say you grant them the right to “publish” and “share” code you upload, which means “distribute” under copyright law. They also imply that by spelling out the terms under which they do not “distribute”, which is anytime the content is used outside of GitHub’s services.)
I don’t think you’re correct that the term “redistribution” means either going into another product, nor that it implies a claim of ownership. Putting works into another product is sometimes known as making a derivative work, while “redistributing” is quite commonly used to mean copy-and-distribute as-is. Redistribution can happen via license as well, it requires permission by the copyright owner, but does not imply the redistributor is (or is claiming to be) the copyright owner.
You didn't see the original question, it was edited, so we cannot discuss that further.
"[...] which means “distribute” under copyright law" <-- Citation needed please, because I don't think that's correct.
From the site you linked:
"Distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership or by rental, lease, or lending."
What I seem to grasp about the difference between reproducing and redistributing is that it has to do with the concept of "transfer of ownership". Also derivate work and redistribution are not mutually exclusive.
The moment you create a new thing and start distributing it (even if you do not modify it), you become the de facto owner of that new product, and copyright law is trying to limit the extent of the rights that apply there. So, in the case of music, it's different thing to play (reproduce) a song than to create a new album with your favorite artists that happens to include that particular song (redistribution).
> What I seem to grasp about the difference between reproducing and redistributing is that it has to do with the concept of "transfer of ownership". Also derivate work and redistribution are not mutually exclusive.
What you've misunderstood is it is the copies that are sold, not the copyrights.
* edit
> create a new album with your favorite artists that happens to include that particular song (redistribution).
This is not what redistribution means. You seem confused about this word.
Sorry, I'm not following you anymore. I don't even know what you mean by that sentence.
Edit:
>This is not what redistribution means. You seem confused about this word.
But, that's exactly what redistribution entails ...
The transfer of ownership you referred to is a transfer of ownership of a copy, it is not a transfer of ownership of the original work itself. You misunderstood the passage you quoted to mean that redistribution is transferring ownership of the work itself, as in copyright ownership of the work. But the text you quoted is only talking about transferring ownership of the copies. The text you chose makes more sense in the context of physical copies of books or "phonorecords".
Copyright is meant to protect original/authentic/unprecedented expressions, disregarding the medium where they may exist. So I don't really get your point in trying to make distinction between a copy or a "master"(?) or whatever.
What's at stake is the originality of the expression and what kind of rights does somebody else (i.e. everyone but the creator) have (or not!) over it.
Can I make copies of this original expression? (y/n)
Can I use this into a new product of my own? (y/n)
Whether something is already a copy or not does not really change the extent of the rights that you have (unless it's explicitly stated in the license, of course).
I can see that, and I mean no disrespect, but you shouldn’t have attempted to comment on this topic authoritatively and police what others say without understanding it.
> I don’t really get your point in trying to make distinction between a copy or a “master”(?) or whatever.
You have clearly and repeatedly demonstrated that you don’t understand what “distribute” and “redistribution” means to copyright law. You claimed others were confused about it and that using the word “redistribute” was incorrect, when in fact it was fine and correct.
I’m trying to help you understand that redistribution is a term that is talking about what happens to copies of a work. The sentence you quoted, and the “transfer of ownership” that you said you grasp only have to do with transferring copies, and nothing else.
The main point here is that when GitHub shows you code, it is transferring a copy to you. That is what GitHub calls “publish” and what copyright law calls “publication”, and by publishing they mean redistribution (because the copyright legal code says so).
No, it isn't. You're wrong. Redistribution, or just distribution, in copyright law is plainly and simply making copies of a work available to other people. It does not mean anything more than that, and it does not transfer ownership of anything other than the copy you distribute.
Using the terms as you explained them below, I meant that Microsoft/GitHub has permission to reproduce the code so why wouldn't that extend to copilot?