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And imagine how different the world would be if Microsoft Word couldn't just read/write WordPerfect files by reverse-engineering them?

• brianberns 8y ago
  Reverse engineering a file format is different from reimplementing an API.
  • ummonk 8y ago
    In what way?
    • KingMachiavelli 8y ago
      The crux of re-implementing an API is that the name and structure of the replacement has to be the same otherwise it won't work as a drop in replacement. If I reverse engineer a file format I don't have to name any of my code the same as the original or structure it in the same way.
      • ummonk 8y ago
        You need to structure any files you read or write to the exact same way or they won't be compatible with the other software. File formats are directly analogous to APIs.
      • ndnxhs 8y ago
        A file format is just an api that gets saved to the drive. Many file formats are just json/XML files in a renamed zip
        • treis 8y ago
          Except that you don't have a copy of a file format in your code. The code you have reads and writes to the format and does not need to be a copy.
          • candiodari 8y ago
            True, but there's many parts that you do have to copy into your source code: * magic numbers at the start of the file format * all sorts of enums that you just have to know, names and numbers and the correspondence between them * names of data types and classes are often needed * there are often many "standard" things that will be in both the original source and the duplicate because it's the industry standard (things like bold text in any word format or parallel constraints in cad files). They will mostly match in all programs of the same time And that's just the beginning. You could make an argument that all of those fall under copyright. And they shouldn't. So it really isn't that far from an API.
            • treis 8y ago
              If you copyright all those things then you aren't copyrighting the file format. You're copyrighting a bunch of code you wrote to read/write the format. Which (virtually) everyone agrees is something subject to copyright.
              • monocasa 8y ago
                If you copyright the magic numbers and xml tag names, how can anyone write a competing implementation?
                • treis 8y ago
                  You can't copyright something as simple as a number or tag names.
                  • monocasa 8y ago
                    That's literally what this case is about, the tag names on functions. The appeals court already threw out one de mininis argument.
                    • treis 8y ago