Editorial illustration for Anthropic's DMCA notice targets leaked code repo, also affects legit forks
Anthropic's DMCA Targets Leaked Code Repo on GitHub
Anthropic's DMCA notice targets leaked code repo, also affects legit forks
Anthropic’s legal team sent a DMCA takedown request to GitHub late Tuesday, aiming to scrub a repository that surfaced after a leak. The target repo traces back to a post by user nirholas, whose code dump sparked a flurry of activity across the platform. Within hours, almost a hundred forks—some maintained by developers unrelated to the breach—found themselves listed by name in the notice.
While the intention was to contain the unauthorized code, the breadth of the claim has raised eyebrows among open‑source contributors who worry about collateral damage. GitHub’s response, noted in an appended comment, indicates the company acted to…
The DMCA notice that GitHub received late Tuesday focuses on a repository containing the leaked source code originally posted by GitHub user nirholas (archived here) and nearly 100 specifically named forks of that repository. In a note appended to that request, though, GitHub said it had acted to take down a network of 8,100 similar forked repositories because "the submitter alleged that all or most of the forks were infringing to the same extent as the parent repository." That expanded takedown affected many repositories that didn't contain leaked code but instead forked Anthropic's official public Claude Code repository, which the company shares to encourage public bug reports and fixes.
Did the takedown achieve its goal? The notice targeted a repo that housed the leaked Claude Code client, originally posted by GitHub user nirholas, and listed nearly a hundred forks by name. GitHub complied, removing the identified repositories, but later restored many legitimate forks after recognizing the overreach.
Anthropic acknowledges that the reversal corrects an unintended impact on community‑maintained copies of its public code. Yet the company admits it still confronts a steep challenge in curbing the distribution of the leaked source. The effectiveness of the DMCA approach remains uncertain; no data have been provided on whether the removal slowed further sharing.
Meanwhile, developers who rely on the official repository must navigate a temporarily disrupted ecosystem of forks. Whether future notices will be more narrowly scoped is unclear, as the balance between protecting intellectual property and preserving open‑source contributions continues to be tested. The episode underscores the practical limits of legal tools in managing rapid code dissemination.
Further Reading
- Claude Code leak puts Anthropic on the other side of the copyright battle - Business Insider
- Anthropic took down thousands of GitHub repos trying to yank its leaked source code a move the company says was an accident - TechCrunch
- dmca/2025/04/2025-04-28-anthropic.md at master - GitHub - GitHub DMCA Archive
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Common Questions Answered
Why did Anthropic issue a DMCA takedown notice to GitHub?
Anthropic sent a DMCA takedown request targeting a repository containing leaked Claude code originally posted by GitHub user nirholas. The legal action aimed to remove unauthorized source code that had been distributed across multiple repository forks.
How many repository forks were initially impacted by Anthropic's DMCA notice?
The DMCA notice specifically named nearly 100 repository forks, but GitHub ultimately took down a network of 8,100 similar forked repositories. Many of these forks were maintained by developers unrelated to the original code leak.
What was GitHub's response to Anthropic's broad DMCA takedown request?
GitHub initially complied with the takedown notice by removing the identified repositories. However, the platform later restored many legitimate forks after recognizing the overreach of the original request, acknowledging that not all forks were infringing.