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Mongo was open source. They copied the api under that license. My understanding, and I’m not a lawyer so don’t consider this legal advice, is that you can’t c
by godzillabrennus 8y ago
Mongo was open source. They copied the api under that license.
My understanding, and I’m not a lawyer so don’t consider this legal advice, is that you can’t copy a commercial api or it’s infringing on their intellectual property.
- tyingq 8y agoThe mongo example is a bit odd since the open source license was AGPL. Sounds like you can copy an AGPL API signature without releasing your own source?
- Itaxpica 8y agoThe copyrightability of APIs (specifically Oracle’s APIs, even!) is at the heart of a lengthy and still-ongoing legal battle, with several decisions in both directions.
- alexis_fr 8y agoI thought the copyright law had an exemption for compatibility?
- tyingq 8y agoSee https://www.eff.org/cases/oracle-v-google https://www.eff.org/cases/oracle-v-google Oracle won the last round, Google asked the Supreme court to look at it in January. Guess we'll know some time soon.