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- From: David Megginson <david@megginson.com>
- To: xml-dev@ic.ac.uk
- Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 14:08:04 -0500 (EST)
Paul Prescod writes:
> Let me pretend to be a lawyer, and then a consultant.
> It is highly debatable that APIs and other software to software
> interfaces are protectable.
Yes, I should be clearer here -- I wouldn't try to copyright more than
the specific *expression* of the API in Java, C++, etc., but it would
still be possible for someone to create an entirely compatible one
from scratch. Life on Linux would be very dull if we didn't have
work-alikes for the Unix C library (glibc), OpenGL (Mesa), and other
similarly important stuff, not to mention the Unix system call
themselves.
> The case law is muddled but the "common practice" is quite
> clear. Would Microsoft allow Wine or Samba if they thought that the
> Windows API or SMB protocols were protectable?
They're thinking about it. Have you read the Microsoft Halloween
documents?
http://www.opensource.org/halloween/
> How about the re-implementations (against Sun's wishes) of the Java
> API?
To be fair, I think that Sun's license does explicitly allow that,
even if the execs don't like it.
> Note that Sun protects the Java API through *trademark law* not
> copyright.
The W3C protects XML in a similar fashion.
[snip]
> Consultant:
>
> What problem are you trying to solve?
Wow! You sound just like a real consultant, except that the first
question should have been "How much money do you have to spend?"
> Whatever it is, licenses designed for code are not likely to reach
> your goals with respect to an API. If you want to allow anyone to
> use SAX anywhere in any way for any project then what's wrong with
> putting it in public domain? Other licenses exist to stop some
> particular action (e.g. commercial use). What are you trying to
> prevent?
>
> I use implementations of SAX (parser, app and infrastructure library)
> that do not in any way use code from your site. I don't see how your
> license can affect that use at all.
I'll take this as a (very well-reasoned) vote for leaving SAX2 in the
Public Domain, just like SAX1. With SAX1, I made that decision rather
autocratically (I just did it), but I'd like to hear a range of
opinions before we commit to a license for SAX2.
All the best,
David
--
David Megginson david@megginson.com
http://www.megginson.com/
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