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Isn't such uncertainty by itself a death sentence for a vast range users relying on incorporation of APIs into their software? Can open source projects and smal
by zmmmmm 11y ago
Isn't such uncertainty by itself a death sentence for a vast range users relying on incorporation of APIs into their software? Can open source projects and small developers employ lawyers to decide if their particular use is "fair"? It seems to me that anything other than an extremely clear cut decision is going to be a disaster for the software industry here.
- maxlybbert 11y agoI certainly prefer a simple rule so that I don't need to ask an attorney whether a particular API is copyrighted before I start working. But I found the original article misleading in a few aspects, and wanted to clarify things before the discussion turned silly over misunderstandings. It's also true that courts are expected to come to the right conclusion for the right reason. If a company spent years telling people they were free to use some particular API, then sued them for doing so, it would be important to distinguish between a case where the API isn't copyrightable and a case where the API is copyrightable but that people had permission to create derivative works based on that API. For some reason, many people are unable to make that distinction when talking about things around the water cooler.