Hacker News Reader

throwaway2048

The court that decided that APIs were copy-writable was a federal patent circuit, their decision is not binding as precedent.

View on HN

Is it binding in that circuit?

Which is a good point, that's a major circuit for tech.

Also, what happens if another circuit rules the opposite? Can we start a case in a circuit without incompetent judges?

Furthermore, if these judges are elected, they need to be VOTED OUT

Generally speaking the precedent would not apply across circuits. The law would be interpreted as X in X circuit and Y in Y circuit.

The problem is the First Circuit gets ALL patent cases nationwide, so with this precedent in place anyone wanting to claim copyright infringement on a API will toss in a Patent claim as well to ensure it goes only to the First Circuit

With the high court refusing to address the issue, we will never see another court get one of these cases.

Yap, this is what I thought. The easy way to go to that court is tossing a patent claim

Reply on news.ycombinator.com