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I followed a YouTube tutorial where the presenter explains how to make a game that runs in a web browser. The video showed him typing (and explaining) the code. I copied several lines of code. I have made bug fixes and enhancements. I'm wondering if I can show my code online, for example on GitHub? The YouTube tutorial made no indication of licensing.

As a practical matter I would have no issue if the other contacted me and told me to take it down. Also I found other people who have posted the code they made from following the video online.

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    Feb 7, 2022 at 9:22

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If the code shown in the video on YT does not have a license (i.e. the presenter did not tell you that it is for example under Apache license), then you do not have a license to use this code.

The YouTube Terms clearly say:

Licence to Other Users

You also grant each other user of the Service a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to access your Content through the Service, and to use that Content (including to reproduce, distribute, modify, display, and perform it) only as enabled by a feature of the Service.

Based on this no user can assume that any content can be used for anything other than watching the video.

There is an option to post YT videos under CC license. As you have not mentioned that in your question I assume that this is not the case, so the usual T&Cs of YT apply.

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  • "then you do not have a license to use this code" not even a license to use the code in private?
    – swandiving
    Feb 8, 2022 at 5:46
  • Wouldn't some license be implied since the video is literally telling you to write the code?
    – swandiving
    Feb 8, 2022 at 5:46
  • In the presence of detailed terms of the YT service I think you cannot assume that there are further implied rights. If the copyright owner tells you (e.g. verbally) in the YT video that you can use the code, then that should be fine, however the presenter in YT might NOT be the copyright owner, he might be using code for his/her presentation which is under 3rd party copyright and under a specific license. Using the code in private seems to be low risk, but I would not go any further.
    – Martin_in_AUT
    Feb 8, 2022 at 8:17

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