3 ms·

Google asks Supreme Court to overrule disastrous ruling on API copyrights

17 points by chopin 8y ago

lawrenceyan 8y ago
"The idea that I can be presented with a problem, set out to logically solve it with the tools at hand, and wind up with a program that could not be legally used because someone else followed the same logical steps some years ago and filed for a patent on it is horrifying." - John Carmack [1] [1] http://web.archive.org/web/20010624154450/http://www.voodooextreme.com/games/interviews/carmack/ http://web.archive.org/web/20010624154450/http://www.voodooe...
- rjf72 8y ago
  He's talking about software patents. I wouldn't equate that with API copyright. For many things discovering an algorithm to do something is just that - a process more about 'discovery' than 'invention.' As an obvious example in graphics, think about something like height mapped terrain. Anybody of reasonable cleverness who thinks on the problem of how to represent terrain in a 3D world is going to, at some point, "invent" height mapped terrain. Whole system APIs, by contrast, are more of a creative expression in that there are an infinite number of possible APIs. And for anything not completely trivial, wholesale copying there is only going to happen by overt and intended effort. I'm not saying that APIs should or should not be protected by IP law -- only that it's a different issue since the odds of unintended replication approach zero very rapidly as the complexity of a system increase. So the question becomes whether intentional, and not strictly necessary, replication should or should not be allowed.
  - 75dvtwin 8y ago
    If I take a copyrighted text book on linear algebra, then I copy its table of content. then create my own text book (with unique material), where the table of content is from the above book. Did I just violate the copyright of the first text book ?
    - gnhrgkai 8y ago
      If the table of contents was dozens of pages long and you did it just so your clients could stop using the copyrighted book, I think they would have a case.
- gnhrgkai 8y ago
  So, like regular patents? What he's saying is that patents should not exist? That doesn't sound good.
bunnycorn 8y ago
This article is so one-sided it hurts.
quantum_state 8y ago
Feel more education on software development for the Court is needed.

17 points by chopin 8y ago

"The idea that I can be presented with a problem, set out to logically solve it with the tools at hand, and wind up with a program that could not be legally used because someone else followed the same logical steps some years ago and filed for a patent on it is horrifying." - John Carmack [1] [1] http://web.archive.org/web/20010624154450/http://www.voodooextreme.com/games/interviews/carmack/ http://web.archive.org/web/20010624154450/http://www.voodooe...

rjf72 8y ago
He's talking about software patents. I wouldn't equate that with API copyright. For many things discovering an algorithm to do something is just that - a process more about 'discovery' than 'invention.' As an obvious example in graphics, think about something like height mapped terrain. Anybody of reasonable cleverness who thinks on the problem of how to represent terrain in a 3D world is going to, at some point, "invent" height mapped terrain. Whole system APIs, by contrast, are more of a creative expression in that there are an infinite number of possible APIs. And for anything not completely trivial, wholesale copying there is only going to happen by overt and intended effort. I'm not saying that APIs should or should not be protected by IP law -- only that it's a different issue since the odds of unintended replication approach zero very rapidly as the complexity of a system increase. So the question becomes whether intentional, and not strictly necessary, replication should or should not be allowed.
- 75dvtwin 8y ago
  If I take a copyrighted text book on linear algebra, then I copy its table of content. then create my own text book (with unique material), where the table of content is from the above book. Did I just violate the copyright of the first text book ?
  - gnhrgkai 8y ago
    If the table of contents was dozens of pages long and you did it just so your clients could stop using the copyrighted book, I think they would have a case.
gnhrgkai 8y ago
So, like regular patents? What he's saying is that patents should not exist? That doesn't sound good.

bunnycorn 8y ago

This article is so one-sided it hurts.

quantum_state 8y ago

Feel more education on software development for the Court is needed.