"Maybe I'm being too techno-libertarian here, but I believe existing courts + public feedback cycles + iterating on how the public code is consumed + spreading awareness of the issue is enough to address the licensing problems."
I think you are, though. You have to automate the justice as well, traditional courts can't keep pace. You'll just end up with more automated DMCA-style takedowns, not less.
I think you misunderstood my comment then (or how these tools work IRL)... because I'm not saying that it's even worthy of a court case in the vast majority of cases. So why would you need to automate such a thing?
And I don't even see how an automated DMCA system could exist because I doubt they'd win monetary damages in court over a 'stolen' function or two (or detect it in most commercial applications in the first place).
Regardless a single class action should be enough to make Microsoft either shut down their project or adapt (via whistleblowers, leaked code, public repos, etc). And regardless if they don't adapt by investing in the possible solutions here, an OSS project could take it's place eventually and the courts wouldn't even be a useful solution.
Ideally a capital-backed company will help solve this, with the obvious legal incentives that already exist. But even if it doesn't this isn't going away.
I think you are, though. You have to automate the justice as well, traditional courts can't keep pace. You'll just end up with more automated DMCA-style takedowns, not less.