[Discuss] can you copyright an API?

[jc at trillian.mit.edu (jc at trillian.mit.edu)]

One thing I wonder is whether there is an actua legal  definition  of
an "API".  The software industry plays fast and loose with this term.
I've seen things labelled "API" whose only content is a  header  file
that looks like:

int func(int arg1, int arg2);

To some software managers' minds, that's all you need to create a new
"API". If it can be copyrighted, then everyone who has ever written a
function that takes two integer args and returns an integer result is
in violation of the copyright.

So if I wanted to avoid being the victim of a lawsuit like this  one,
how  would  I know that my "API" is original enough to qualify for my
own copyright?  As far as I know, there  is  no  legal  definiton  of
"API", but of course I could be wrong.


--
  The fewer jobs a tool is designed to do, the better it does each of them.
     _'
     O
   <:#/>  John Chambers
     +   <jc at trillian.mit.edu>
    /#\  <jc1742 at gmail.com>
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