patents
Would a patent on the Win32 API make Linux Wine illegal?
<p>There is the Win32 API which provides access to systems functions on Windows. For example there is the <a href="https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/fileapi/nf-fileapi-createfilea" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CreateFile</a> API call to create a file.</p>
<p>And then there is Linux Wine which implements this API to run Windows programs on Linux.</p>
<p>Let's say Microsoft writes a specification for the Win32 API (which in fact already exists in Form of HTML help pages) and registers a patent on it.</p>
<p>Would this make Linux Wine illegal?</p>
<p>Would this force the Linux community to remove Wine (which implements the Win32 API) from all distributions and code repositories?</p>
<p>I was told in this question that permission to implement a specification can be restricted by patents:</p>
<p><a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/86057/can-the-permission-to-implement-a-specification-be-restricted">Can the permission to implement a specification be restricted?</a></p>

<p>Too late. It is public knowledge and has been for many years. You can't patent something that isn't new.</p>
