[Discuss] can you copyright an API?

[invalid at pizzashack.org (Derek Martin)]

On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 05:38:51PM -0400, Matthew Gillen wrote:
> On 04/24/2012 05:11 PM, Derek Martin wrote:
> > On Tue, Apr 24, 2012 at 04:19:04PM -0400, Matthew Gillen wrote:
> >> On 04/23/2012 08:58 AM, Edward Ned Harvey wrote:
> >>> For one, they could have started with the GPL
> >>> openjdk.  
> >>
> >> No, that actually wouldn't have solved the problem.  Sun granted
> >> automatic royalty-free patent licenses only for java implementations
> >> that met the full java specification.  
> > 
> > The GPL explicitly grants you the right to modify and distribute any
> > code distributed under it as you see fit, provided you distribute the
> > modified source.  How could starting with the GPL-licensed code *not*
> > solve the problem?
> 
> Because with patents it doesn't matter if you did a clean room
> implementation. Using the technique described in the patent requires a
> license from the patent holder.  Sun granted those licenses to openjdk,
> but there were terms.  You can't start with openjdk, gut it, and still
> claim compliance with the terms of the license.

The GPL *IS* the license from the patent holder.  It explicitly grants
you that right.  

The GPL does not exempt you from the possibility of infringing the
patents of third parties, certainly.  But Oracle expressly has granted
you the right to use, copy, and modify the openjdk, and works based on
it, by distributing it under the GPL.  It grants you the right to
"freely modify" (gutting certainly qualifies as modifying), run the
program, translate it to other languages, and distribute object code
based on the source code under the same terms.  It says nothing about
the resulting work necessarily implementing 100% of any specification,
or restricting distribution for failure of same, whatsoever.

I'm not sure what's left that could possibly prevent the GPL from
saving the day.

-- 
Derek D. Martin    http://www.pizzashack.org/   GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02
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