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A comment on Amazon DocumentDB, with MongoDB compatibility. Parent comment

Re:Amazon DocumentDB, with MongoDB compatibility by elygre on Thursday January 10, 2019 @02:02AM (#18872072)
I also always found it amusing that people thought API design was not creative and protectable.

Like, “how many ways can you do a date api”, and then turn around to look at the original java Date api, the Calendar api, JodaTime and JSR310.

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Re:Amazon DocumentDB, with MongoDB compatibility by int_19h on Thursday January 10, 2019 @02:39AM (#18872199)
An API is just a collection of facts of the form, "if the system gets input X, the system produces output Y". And facts shouldn't be copyrightable.
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Re:Amazon DocumentDB, with MongoDB compatibility by deanCommie on Thursday January 10, 2019 @07:23AM (#18873341)
You could describe inventions as "facts" too, are you saying that inventions shouldn't be patentable as well?

Maybe the fundamental properties of the universe aren't copyrightable/trademarkable/patentable, but what you CHOOSE to do with those - what API you design or what widget you build out of it certainly is.

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Re:Amazon DocumentDB, with MongoDB compatibility by int_19h on Thursday January 10, 2019 @07:03PM (#18879781)
Patents and copyrights are two very different things, though. I don't know if APIs are patentable, but that's a very different question. Has anybody ever successfully patented an API?
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