US government makes it legal to reverse engineer code

#1

Post by zanewill9 » Mon, May 16, 2016, 12:02 AM UTC

US government makes it legal to reverse engineer code
preemptive.com

Re: US government makes it legal to reverse engineer code

#2

Post by trav4225 » Mon, May 16, 2016, 1:34 AM UTC

I wonder about the interplay of this with the DMCA. I suspect that the statement that it's "legal to reverse-engineer code" may still have significant caveats...

Then again (thankfully ;-), IANAL.

Re: US government makes it legal to reverse engineer code

#3

Post by TYPE_FASTER » Mon, May 16, 2016, 1:36 AM UTC

Not surprising a company producing obfuscation tools would use this for advertising. My question is, does this reduce the risk of getting sued for creating IP after looking at previously existing IP via reverse engineering or other methods?

Re: US government makes it legal to reverse engineer code

#4

Post by zzalpha » Mon, May 16, 2016, 1:37 AM UTC

And yet thanks to Oracle v Google it may become impossible to use information gained from reverse engineering to create a compatible replacement without violating copyright.

One step forward, two steps back...

Re: US government makes it legal to reverse engineer code

#5

Post by tzs » Mon, May 16, 2016, 2:24 AM UTC

zzalpha wrote: post #4

And yet thanks to Oracle v Google it may become impossible to use information gained from reverse engineering to create a compatible replacement without violating copyright. One step forward, two steps back...

Oracle v Google won't change much, because the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit does not set copyright precedent. Details in earlier comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11377318