"It analogizes all this to a musical composition that is readily protectible under copyright even though individual notes are not." This is a nice analogy. AP

"It analogizes all this to a musical composition that is readily protectible under copyright even though individual notes are not." This is a nice analogy. APIs are more expressive than individual notes but hardly raise themselves to the level of a fully formed composition. Imagine a list of musical phrases. That includes scales and progressions at the simplest level and pleasing variations on those themes but not enough to form a contained composition themselves -- at most a couple of bars. Each entry could show what scales and progressions they are derived from and even suggest which other entries, in simple combination, are common or otherwise musically sound. Let's further assume that they are given convenient names. Would that rise to the level of copyright? If someone were to create a distinct variation on that list but slightly different for use with instruments tuned in an unusual way but used all of the same names because ultimately the way all of the phrases relate to one another is the same, would that be fair? I haven't thought this scenario all of the way through, but it seems useful to take my familiarity with software out of the process...I have to admit, at first blush, I am a bit torn.