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There is no way in hell that isEven is covered by copyright. "In computer programs, concerns for efficiency may limit the possible ways to achieve a particular
by williamcotton 4y ago
There is no way in hell that isEven is covered by copyright.
"In computer programs, concerns for efficiency may limit the possible ways to achieve a particular function, making a particular expression necessary to achieving the idea. In this case, the expression is not protected by copyright."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction-Filtration-Comparison_test https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction-Filtration-Compari...
Think about how absurd this is. So if Microsoft was the first company to write and publish an isEven function then no one else can legally use it?
- eurasiantiger 4y agoDoes that mean any perfectly optimal function is copyright-free?
- bawolff 4y agoAny function devoid of "creativity" is. No choices equal no creativity. As a note the same applies to logos. Very simple logos that are only some lines and shapes, do not have copyright (in usa)
- squokko 4y agoLogos can still have trademark without having copyright as creativity is not a requirement of trademarks.
- bawolff 4y agoTrue, but trademark and copyright are pretty different on a fundamental level both in the purpose behind the law and how its implemented. I suspect if it weren't for the term "intellectual property" tying trademark, copyright and patents together, we wouldn't really think of them in such a unified way since they are all really different from each other.
- kevin_thibedeau 4y agoThere are software patents on bit twiddling operations that people do end up having to work around.
- Phrodo_00 4y ago> There is no way in hell that isEven is covered by copyright. Hey, I said the same thing about APIs, but here we are. Edit: Actually, the Supreme Court declined ruling whether APIs are copyrightable, but they did say that if they are, reusing them like google reused the java apis in android would fall under fair use. Given that lower courts did think that APIs should be copyrightable, we don't know if they are anymore.
- az226 4y agoWhat's interesting in that case is I would argue the interface code is MORE important than the implementing code. You can hire any SWE to re-implement the entire API and it being pretty straightforward. The interface code was what actually mattered with developers and took creative expression, design, sequence, organization to put together and feedback and iteration over the years. Google knew this too, taking the interface code was WAY more important for them than if they had done the reverse.