As much as I dislike the impact this could have I must say that designing a clean, orthogonal, complete API can take longer than actually implementing it. A pr

As much as I dislike the impact this could have I must say that designing a clean, orthogonal, complete API can take longer than actually implementing it. A properly thought out API will dictate the implementation and strongly optimize it. I've done API's and then the code to implement them and there is no way I can see API creation as other than a highly creative endeavor. The designer in me says, yes this is the right decision, but my pragmatist is worried. Processor instruction sets are no less API's than are the means of accessing a software product. Can they be copyrighted?