I, personally, define reverse engineering as when a product (or recipe, or other item which is 'created') is taken apart, in an orderly manner, in order to discover what it is actually 'made up of'. The process of reverse engineering allows someone to see how they can replicate a thing or how they may be able to improve said item by seeing what is not necessary and what can be consolidated to make something more efficient.
However, when the issue of whether or not reverse engineering is legal today is a tricky one. For me, I find reverse engineering to be legal on certain things- but not others. For example, reverse engineering seems to be perfectly acceptable, and could also be viewed as a compliment to someone when it involves a recipe. Trying to discover what actually goes into a certain food for example.
Then there is the issue with reverse engineering on electronic products and whether or not that is considered 'legal.' There have been court cases held, even brought to the Supreme Court, on issues regarding reverse engineering. The Supreme Court has also stated that reverse engineering promotes and encourages the innovation of the market place. Congress has passed certain laws saying that certain products are able to be reversed engineered whilst others are not. Another site which I visited stated that copyrighting does not protect ideas just the way those are expressed. For example, the Zune could be viewed as a copy of the I-pod, however, it is a reversely engineered product. The I-pod was examined, and then it was further developed and challenged the I-pod market. This is not taking the ideas, it is changing the ways in which they are 'expressed.' All in all, though, all markets and industries must be sure to verify the copyright infringement regulations on any given product which they are hoping to alter or 'change the expression of.'
I am in support of reverse engineering, however, not directly copying and slapping a different logo on it. Reverse engineering must show some changes or alterations, making each company's product, truly 'its own.'
http://www.chillingeffects.org/reverse/faq.cgi#QID195
http://www.jenkins.eu/articles/reverse-engineering.asp#a8
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Section 1201(f) of the DMCA states that "a person who has lawfully obtained the right to use a copy of a computer program may circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a particular portion of that program for the sole purpose of identifying and analyzing those elements of the program that are necessary to achieve interoperability of an independently created computer program with other programs."
ReplyDeleteHow does this affect which types of reverse engineering are legal and which types are not legal?