undefined | Better HN

0 pointsthrowaway_yy2Di12y ago0 comments

Well there are well-known noncommercial clauses about redistribution of software. But this license is about restricting third-party modifications, like plugins, which don't contain copyrighted code, but do link to it and target its API. So yes I'm asking if that's enforceable, and what type of law allows for that (contract or copyright?).

Or did you mean noncommercial use, as in evaluation licenses?

(edit: several edits because I am confused)

0 comments

3 comments · 2 top-level

avz12y ago· 1 in thread

I think the recent Oracle vs Google case is relevant here as it involves the question of whether APIs are copyrightable. The case is about a subset of Java APIs included in Android. Note that the Android implementation exposed by those APIs is new and did not involve copying code from Java standard libraries (modulo rangeCheck()).

The district court ruled that so long as implementation is different you are free to provide the same API. A federal circuit court reversed this ruling this year. The case is now back in the district court for consideration of whether the use of the API falls under the fair-use clause.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_v._Google

throwaway_yy2DiOP12y ago

One difference is that mods are meant to be linked against the proprietary implementation. In the discussion of GPL linking, this is really murky:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License#Lin...

But I don't think either of those are really similar. Android is emulating the Java API, without Oracle code being involved. Programs that link against GPL libraries are intended to make runtime calls to copyrighted code. And game mods modify the copyrighted program's runtime behavior, having the program make calls to the modding code (in place of its own). I can't think of an analogue of the last situation.

nl12y ago

Minecraft doesn't have an official API, so modding involves decompiling and shipping recompiled Mojang-owned code. I'm pretty sure a restriction on that would hold up in most jurisdictions.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse