Reverse engineering is a process to copy something without actually copying it, therefore avoiding the legal implications and copyright laws. What Compaq did when they reverse engineered Rom-Bios is, they had somebody (or a team of people?) figure out exactly what it was the Rom-Bios did and write that all down. Then, a team of people who knew nothing about Rom-Bios came in, were given a computer without Rom-Bios and a list of all the things that needed to happen once they had developed their own Rom-Bios. So, basically reverse engineering is taking a finished product and back-tracking- figuring out how it was made- then making your own. Since there is only knowledge of the end result, and not of the making process, the new engineers couldn't "copy" Rom-Bios they could technically only create a new one that worked exactly the same way. In many ways, reverse engineering could just lead to a new way of making the same old thing- perhaps cheaper or faster or more environmentally friendly etc. But, is reverse engineering legal???
Yes, reverse engineering is technically legal since it doesn't break copyright laws. However, it does break patent laws, frequently. So, reverse engineering is legal... IF you can argue against the patent protection. For example, NCSU says you can do one of three things 1.) negotiate a license to use the idea 2.) Claim that the idea is not novel and is an obvious step for anyone experienced in the particular field or 3.) Make a subtle change and claim that the changed product is not protected by patent.
http://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/intellectual/reverse/study.php
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The DMCA states that reverse engineering is only allowed to achieve "interoperability". What does this mean and how does this affect your argument?
ReplyDeleteCheck section 1201f of the DMCA. What is interoperability? What are some other uses of reverse engineering?
What I guess the idea of interoperability means is that, for example, Compaq could have reverse engineered something that serves the exact same purpose as what they were trying to copy... as long as it didn't end up being the exact same thing. This means that my argument needs a qualifier- it is legal to reverse engineer as long as the end result isn't EXACTLY the same. What section 1201f says is that a copyright can allow for reverse engineering for the purpose of achieving interoperability. Meaning Compaq could (if the copyright allowed) analyze the Rom-Bios in order to find a way to make their operating system compatible with the other software. Either way, reverse engineering is legal as long as certain stipulations are met.
ReplyDeleteReverse engineering could be used for anything. An analyst could study the rubber used on the bottom of shoes to figure out what factors about it provided the correct amount of comfort and support. And then make shoes with a similar process- provided that the process was not the same, but rather just followed a similar idea.