If I access your API I’m using your server because you offer it publicly. That is not abuse. The distinction is about whether you should be able to offer somet

If I access your API I’m using your server because you offer it publicly. That is not abuse. The distinction is about whether you should be able to offer something publicly, taking advantage of public infrastructure to do so, and then make demands about what the public do with that. Companies want to do the electronic equivalent of putting copyrighted media on a billboard in a public square then claiming you need to sign a contract to look at it and then only through special glasses they provide.