Not being able to protect an API as a whole is bad. What is an API if not a blue-print and a structural representation of the underlying Software. Wasn't it Fre

Not being able to protect an API as a whole is bad. What is an API if not a blue-print and a structural representation of the underlying Software. Wasn't it Fred Brooks who said something like, "show me your data structures and I can tell you what your program does, show me your code and I cannot". Reimplementing an API is like recreating Mona Lisa by painting by numbers. It requires much less effort as the creative thinking and ideas are already laid out for you. The ruling in this lawsuit is also worrisome for those that create open-source software and rely on the GPL to protect their code and keep it open.