GitHub Copilot

Can you patent GitHub Copilot code?

Short answer: Copilot-suggested code can support a patent when you conceived the inventive architecture — but public repositories are prior art. If Copilot surfaced code similar to yours on GitHub, §102 novelty may be at risk.

Copilot trains developers to move fast. It also means millions of repos may anticipate your feature. Patent PreCheck searches granted patents, applications, and technical corpora — and flags overlap before you pay filing fees.

The public-repo novelty trap

§102 treats public GitHub code as prior art. Copilot users often reinvent patterns already committed upstream. Our prior-art search includes code and patent documents so you see the closest matches with links.

Guide: Prior art search for code

GitHub Action: patentability on every PR

Ship the official Patent PreCheck GitHub Action — scores a representative source file (or paths you configure) on each pull request. Marketplace-ready composite action; no repo clone required.

uses: Patent-PreCheck/Patent-PreCheck/.github/actions/patent-precheck@v1

Details: GitHub Actions integration

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Show reviewers you ran a precheck:

[![Patent PreCheck](https://patentprecheck.com/img/badges/patent-precheck-scored.svg)](https://patentprecheck.com/analyze)

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Last updated: 2026-06-22

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