ACM

Communications of the ACM

Home/Opinion/Articles/API Copyrights Revisited/Abstract

Legally speaking

API Copyrights Revisited

By Pamela Samuelson
Communications of the ACM, July 2019, Vol. 62 No. 7, Pages 20-22
10.1145/3332805
Comments

View as: Print Mobile App ACM Digital Library In the Digital Edition Share:

judge gavel on table — Credit: Shutterstock

Are application program interfaces (APIs) "original expression" that copyright law protects from unauthorized implementations in computer program code? Or are they too functional to be within the scope of protection that copyright law provides to computer programs? Alternatively, should it be fair use for unauthorized persons to reimplement APIs in independently written code?

Between 1992 and 2014, federal appellate courts in the U.S. were generally in agreement that interfaces necessary to achieving compatibility among programs were unprotectable by copyright law. These rulings made it unnecessary for courts to address fair use defenses for reuses of APIs.

No entries found

Log in to Read the Full Article

Sign In

Sign in using your ACM Web Account username and password to access premium content if you are an ACM member, Communications subscriber or Digital Library subscriber.

Need Access?

Please select one of the options below for access to premium content and features.

Create a Web Account

If you are already an ACM member, Communications subscriber, or Digital Library subscriber, please set up a web account to access premium content on this site.

Join the ACM

Become a member to take full advantage of ACM's outstanding computing information resources, networking opportunities, and other benefits.

Subscribe to Communications of the ACM Magazine

Get full access to 50+ years of CACM content and receive the print version of the magazine monthly.

Purchase the Article

Non-members can purchase this article or a copy of the magazine in which it appears.