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He gets it! | 394 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
why can't I copyright an API? because it doesn't exist.
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 25 2012 @ 08:36 PM EDT
and whatever you point at, that's not an API.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

He gets it!
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 25 2012 @ 09:02 PM EDT
The argument that troubles me the most is the collection argument. If I can copyright a collection of items that are not individually copyrightable, then why can't I copyright an API?

That's not what a collection copyright is for, as I understand it. Say you decide to publish an anthology of short stories. You arrange permission with each author to publish their story, but each author keeps the copyright on his/her individual short story. You can still get a copyright on your particular, unique anthology. However, if there isn't some type of contractual clause preventing it, the short story authors are still free to grant permission to others to publish their stories as well.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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