[License-discuss] Copyright on APIs

[Christopher Sean Morrison]

> On Jul 9, 2019, at 8:07 AM, Russell McOrmond <russellmcormond at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> This should not narrowly be with respect to approved licenses, but also helping us lobby our domestic governments.  This should include helping ensure that human or computer interfaces are not covered by exclusive rights such as copyright or patent.  My decades of interventions with the federal and provincial governments in Canada on this and related issues have not been helped by the OSI (or the FSF), which I consider to be a missing aspect of the mission of promoting open source principles.
> 
> I have been writing submissions to various Canadian government departments and agencies trying to ensure that interfaces are not covered by exclusive rights.  For instance, my submission to the Competition Bureau in 2003 http://www.flora.ca/competition2003/ <http://www.flora.ca/competition2003/>

While individuals and other for-profit organizations certainly can and should, the OSI  would have to be very careful in regards to lobbying or they will lose their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status as a U.S. non-profit charity.  That’d be a big deal.

OSI should not be directly engaging in lobbying or even urging the public to adopt or reject legislation without having measurements and legal consult in place.  They could certainly support causes by distributing literature and educating the public.

https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/lobbying <https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/lobbying>
https://apps.americanbar.org/buslaw/blt/2009-03-04/mehta.shtml <https://apps.americanbar.org/buslaw/blt/2009-03-04/mehta.shtml>

Cheers,
Sean
 


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