> They aren't even allowed to look at it. Casey deliberately licensed it as GPL so that Microsoft could not use it, actually.
Why does Microsoft prevent its developers from reading GPL-licensed code?
Why does Microsoft prevent its developers from reading GPL-licensed code?
Without reusing any of that code, simply by osmosis? I don't know what the legal theory could be, but is that something that has ever happened in the entire history of the GPL?
it is just them thinking it is better being safe then sorry. if they don't even look at the code there is no way to argue that they are copying it.
It's still something you want to avoid, but the outcome would potentially be a lawsuit from the copyright holder, rather than forcing you to relicense your project.