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Open APIs are the new software patents

api500.com

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Re: Open APIs are the new software patents

#2

Post by annnnd »

I would suggest a change of title. "Open" in title hints at non-proprietary APIs, which doesn't make sense. A better word would be "public" (admittedly not perfect though). Maybe just remove it, like this: "APIs are the new software patents"?

Re: Open APIs are the new software patents

#3

Post by mickaelkel »

annnnd wrote: post #2

I would suggest a change of title. "Open" in title hints at non-proprietary APIs, which doesn't make sense. A better word would be "public" (admittedly not perfect though). Maybe just remove it, like this: "APIs are the new software patents"?

but what is "Open"? There is also an article about "What is Open" concerning APIs : http://api500.com/post/44022221316/what-is-open

Openness for APIs is about to be Accessible, to be Public, to be Neutral and to be Re-usable without restrictions.

So to be Public is one of the part of to be Open, in my opinion of course. Some people have made a larger definition about openness http://opendefinition.org/okd/

Re: Open APIs are the new software patents

#5

Post by pjmlp »

Lets not forget another feature of web APIs that makes them loved by the enterprise.

The ability to make use of open source tooling, driving the cost down to zero, without giving anything back, because customers cannot prove what technology stack is being used.

Re: Open APIs are the new software patents

#6

Post by annnnd »

mickaelkel wrote: post #3
annnnd wrote: post #2

I would suggest a change of title. "Open" in title hints at non-proprietary APIs, which doesn't make sense. A better word would be "public" (admittedly not perfect though). Maybe just remove it, like this: "APIs are the new software patents"?

but what is "Open"? There is also an article about "What is Open" concerning APIs : http://api500.com/post/44022221316/what-is-open Openness for APIs is about to be Accessible, to be Public, to be Neutral and to be Re-usable without restrictions. So to be Public is one of the part of to be Open, in my opinion of course. Some people have made a larger definition about openness http://opendefinition.org/okd/

It is the last one of openness requirements ("Re-usable without restrictions") that bothers me. However I realize that other might understand the title as intended... In other words, I should probably add "YMMV" to my original comment. :)

Re: Open APIs are the new software patents

#8

Post by jacobparker »

pjmlp wrote: post #5

Lets not forget another feature of web APIs that makes them loved by the enterprise. The ability to make use of open source tooling, driving the cost down to zero, without giving anything back, because customers cannot prove what technology stack is being used.

> because customers cannot prove what technology stack is being used.

Morals aside, this is not typically the case. You can legally run GPL software as a service without contributing back, for example. The AGPL fixes this loophole but as far as I am aware is seldom used. (IANAL etc.)

Re: Open APIs are the new software patents

#10

Post by mickaelkel »

alexchamberlain wrote: post #9

This was really hard to read... I had to give up. Did the Oracle vs Google case prove that APIs aren't the new patent?

It was "copyright troll" You can consider it at a API oriented "patent troll". This proves that some API providers want to keep juridical and commercial protection out of their APIs, as it was a patent. Have you seen all the recent API Terms of service changes because of competiting business model of 3rd party applications?
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