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Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 27 2012 @ 12:07 PM EDT |
Well, suppose I define an API. I write some function signatures. That lets me
(or others) communicate with the compiler. The compiler then has enough
information that it can connect a call to the API to the implementation of the
API.
But I also have to communicate what this API does to other humans, so that they
know how and why to call it. I therefore write some prose - comments and
documentation. Those are copyrightable, like any prose. The "gotcha"
here is that another, independent description of the API is going to use many of
the same words, because it's describing the same idea. For example, it would be
really hard to document sqrt() without using the words "square root".
But the other, independent description can't just copy the prose - that's not
independent, it's a copy, and it's a copyright violation.
None of this addresses the fundamental issue, which is whether you can copyright
the collection of function signatures. I think it's settled that you can't
copyright one function signature. I don't think that you should be able to
copyright the collection, but I don't think that it's settled.
Note well: IANAL.
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