On Nov 3, 2003, at 15:46, Andrew Suffield wrote:
Data structure usually drives code, not the other way around. There's significant creative effort in designing them, so copyright usually subsists in them.
Sure, there are data structures that are copyrightable, such as POSITIVE SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS, INC., v. NEW CENTURY MORTGAGE CORPORATION, but most simple C ones probably aren't, as the idea merges with the expression.
Trivial headers (all integer constants and extern functions) probably aren't, but I think you'll find that a significant proportion of libraries install headers with non-trivial content.
That could be...
For example, I would place <curses.h> (selected randomly) as being close to the boundary, but still a work in which copyright subsists.
Remember, at lot of that stuff is part of standards which are either being used under a permissive license, or are a copyright violation.