Reverse Engineering of Software: Copyright and Interoperability
John L. Abbot · Journal of Law Information & Science · 2003
Computer programs are protected under copyright law in most developed countries. Software piracy, resulting from outright copying of a substantial part of software code, will generally be an infringement of copyright. More problematical and contentious issues can arise when software is copied with the intention of producing interoperable or competing products through a process of reverse engineering the original software. This can often be the only way the underlying ideas in computer programs can be revealed, particularly when the software is made available only in machine-readable object code. Issues involving reverse engineering and copyright infringement have been most developed in the United States, where a liberal approach has been taken, under the doctrine of copyright fair use. Under US law, existing software can be copied and reverse engineered to enable compatible and competing programs to be developed, provided that a competing product can be regarded as 'transformative'. Other jurisdictions, including the EU and Australia, have introduced specific legislation to provide narrow exceptions to copyright infringement of software, through reverse engineering, but only to accommodate interoperability. In other countries, including Japan, Canada and Singapore, the legislative framework is less developed, leaving issues involving reverse engineering and copyright to be resolved under existing fair dealing laws.