

Can You Copyright a Programming Language? Google and Oracle Set to Find Out - leejw00t354
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/04/google-oracle/

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codgercoder
From my naive, non-lawyer point of view, a computer programming language
shouldn't be copyrightable for the same reason fonts aren't -- they are the
means to expression, not the expression itself. OTOH, companies have been
licensing languages and APIs for years as if they were able to be copyrighted.

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evincarofautumn
Moreover, can you copyright any artificial language? My instinct says “yes,
but you shouldn’t”. Case in point: Loglan versus Lojban, which is somewhat
analogous to the Java/J#/C# thing.

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nextparadigms
I think as soon as a language gets copyrighted, people will move away from it
in droves, which would be interesting because it would enforce the idea that
patents and copyrights stifle innovation rather than encourage it.

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evincarofautumn
I dunno, you’ve got to strike a balance. I mean, technically I own the
copyright to the compilers and interpreters I write, even if they’re under
permissive licenses. But the difference between “benevolent dictator for life”
and “odious stifler of innovation” is sometimes a tad unclear. It has just as
much to do with public perception as the language owners themselves.

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stewie2
yes, if intel can copyright x86.

