Ask HN: If UIs can be patented, why not APIs?

3 points

10 years ago

I'm trying to better understand the Oracle vs Google patent lawsuit. It seems like the dev/HN community has overwhelmingly come down on the side of Google, and the most common justification I hear, is that "Google might have copied the Java API, but they didn't copy any of the implementation. They reimplemented the entire thing themselves. Therefore, it's fine." The corollary here seems to be that APIs can't/shouldn't be patent-worthy - only the implementation should be protected.

This seems somewhat contradictory with the fact that UIs/UXs are frequently patented[1], and most people don't have a problem with it. If someone made a phone whose user interface was a clone of iOS, most people would agree that Apple would have a valid legal case against the copycat.

We recognize that a major portion of innovation comes not just from implementation, but also from elegant interface design. Hence why User Interfaces are deemed patent-worthy. So why not programmatic interfaces in the form of APIs as well?

[1]: http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/03/swipe-to-patent-design-patents-in-the-age-of-user-interfaces/

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