Other than just wanting to be able to copy other people's work as they often do all the time anyway, I'm not sure I understand major tech giants' argument as to why APIs would not be copyrightable. They are, if anything, much harder to make well than their implementations.
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But arguing that somehow APIs are less important or less worth IP protection than other types of code dramatically undervalues how important systems design is relative to implementation. If forced to pick, I'd actually claim the opposite (APIs copyrighted, implementations not).
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This is because in my experience, the vast majority of my time as a programmer on a novel problem is spent figuring out how it should be broken down. Once I know that, the implementation is usually relatively simple.
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With operating systems, the first and hardest step is establishing the requirements -- what will users need, what can hardware do, etc. Next the API design. I thought Cutler did those better than Richie & Thompson.
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100% agreed.
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Copyrightability is not a statement of importance or value. The constitutional justification for copyright is "To promote the progress of science and useful arts." Indeed, copyrighted APIs would arguably regress the progress of science and the useful arts.
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Note that you are using Tweetdeck to send your tweets. Would it exist in a world with copyrightable APIs?
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The lawsuit is about the Java APIs. Any discussion of "the correct way to design something" is probably irrelevant. But I guess the point is that this is in line with engineering practice in other disciplines.
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Good building safety codes are hard to come up with but it'd be bad for everyone if you had to make your building less safe because someone claimed to own the code.
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It is obviously more important. Just less copyrightable. The whole point of an API is to open up the interface so that it can be widely used. Why allow corporations to wield copyright to have their cake (everyone can use it as a “standard”) and eat it too (but not competitors)?
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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