Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
In all honesty I can see no reason why an API would not be protected by copyright. Is the design of an API not a creative process? If it is (and it certainly seems to me that it is) then it should automatically be protected by copyright under the Berne Convention.
Does anyone know what the arguments are to the contrary?
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I don't know the legal arguments but from a point of principle I don't they should be. APIs are the connecting tissue of different pieces of software that interact. If it becomes impossible to implement a third party API due to copyright restriction then that discourages rather than encourages creativity - which is the intent behind copyright.