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Of course, my example code was very simple.

Everyone obviously should be allowed to create their own open/read/write/close type functions.

But if you take my simple example, and expand it to thousands of lines of code, there are tons of POSSIBLE ways to design a complex API.

And many programmers may some day desire to release and either give away or sell such an API and restrict who can do what with it.

Some developers may not care how their work is used, but many others may want to continue working on it and not want their API messed with by others.

While "cornering the market" on open/read/write/close is clearly not valid, if you or I have worked on hundreds of thousands of lines code for a development toolset that was built from scratch and licensed out, and someone else took our whole framework (against our licensing agreement) and wrote all the functions themselves as their own framework, then sold that as their own product without paying us according to the agreement, I think we'd be more than a little miffed.

but your argument never gets off the ground because of facts.
Things like books written that document the API. You don’t have to download anything from a website to see the API. Then you ignore my original claim that such things CANT BE COPYRIGHTED. So even if I download it with some sort of license that restricts my rights to use the API - such licenses won’t be valid because the Copyright law doesn’t allow it.

Oracle is trying to argue that because we did something really commplex - that makes it copyrightable. I simply don’t buy that.

The difference between fopen/fclose/open/close/printf... and the API’s in java simply one of complexity - it doesn’t change the fact that it describes a function, but doesn’t implement it. It is a description of interaction - not the implementation of how that interaction occurs - that is the difference between something that can not be copyrighted, and something that can be.... at least the understanding I’ve used over the last 30 years in the business.

Mark my words - if the judge doesn’t rule consistent with my description - it will be catastrophic for the software industry. Even Europe just ruled last week along lines I’m describing here!

We’ll see what the judge says in a bit here.