Re:ReStuff
by bitwize on Friday November 27, 2020 @11:02PM
(#25235156)
1) Oracle is the likely winner of the still-ongoing Google v. Oracle case. If APIs are copyrightable, file formats almost certainly are.
2) Even if it were legal to copy or reverse-engineer their file format, the legal team at Smith Micro believes otherwise, and doubtless has amassed a considerable war chest to fight in court for that belief. Do you really want to risk litigation from them as a small-time/OSS developer? It's not enough for something to be legal in order to do it. You have to have reasonable grounds to believe you will spank any challengers to the legality of your actions in court -- or such potential challengers must have been already spanked to the extent that any other challengers will think twice before suing on the same grounds. It's not fair, but it's how the system works.
2) Even if it were legal to copy or reverse-engineer their file format, the legal team at Smith Micro believes otherwise, and doubtless has amassed a considerable war chest to fight in court for that belief. Do you really want to risk litigation from them as a small-time/OSS developer? It's not enough for something to be legal in order to do it. You have to have reasonable grounds to believe you will spank any challengers to the legality of your actions in court -- or such potential challengers must have been already spanked to the extent that any other challengers will think twice before suing on the same grounds. It's not fair, but it's how the system works.