Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

If the "structure, sequence, and organization" of APIs is a copyrightable work in its own right, then couldn't Google make a GPL-licensed derivative SSO (Android's API) but put their implementation under a separate license? Has anyone done a legal analysis of how the GPL's copyleft provisions would apply to this new kind of copyrighted work?


No. Everything that gets linked to GPL has to be GPL.


That's not true. OpenJDK is licensed under the GPL v2 with the Classpath Exception.


The Lesser GPL exists solely to allow linking to non-free programs.

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/why-not-lgpl.en.html


FYI, Classpath exception does not remove GPL from OpenJDK, or enable anyone to create a non-GPL JDK. It allows you to create Java programs that are themselves not GPL.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: