If you do copy an API because of it’s beauty and not for either interoperability with software or interoperability with developers then it seems that you would run afoul of copyright.
That's why I said it partly moots the issue, not completely. Yes, you could conceivably still run afoul of copyright in some cases, but at first blush, this seems like a precedent that will make it very unlikely that that would happen. I guess time will tell, but that's my initial perception. IANAL, of course.
> If you do copy an API because of it’s beauty and not for either interoperability with developers then it seems that you would run afoul of copyright.
So don't do that?
Why would you copy an API save to be inoperable?
If it's just to duplicate someone else's design, I think I'm okay with that potentially being a copyright violation.
That's why I said it partly moots the issue, not completely. Yes, you could conceivably still run afoul of copyright in some cases, but at first blush, this seems like a precedent that will make it very unlikely that that would happen. I guess time will tell, but that's my initial perception. IANAL, of course.