[wmichelin]

I don't think it's fair to compare a programming interface, which is more analogous to designing something like the plumbing architecture for a house, to a movie script, which is art. Yes, a well-written API can be considered art, but with the plumbing analogy, a "copy-cat" would just be making sure the same pipes are connected to the toilets in the same positions. What's going on under behind the dry-wall wouldn't matter.

Movie scripts and APIs aren't really comparable as you have presented them.

[LogicUpgrade]

Bad analogy, architecture schematics are subject to copyright and you can't just take them and use them, either.

[spacemanmatt]

People can and do steal architectural patterns all the time for reuse in their own structures. Are your getting it wrong on purpose?

[mattkrause]

Not wholesale, anyway.

This decision suggests you could include say, the negative of the neighboring building’s facade so that the two “interoperate” in a sensible way.