Please keep in mind legal questions may better fit the Law stack exchange site at http://law.stackexchange.com and consider posting them there
Questions tagged [law]
20 questions
48
votes
4 answers
Is reverse engineering and using parts of a closed source application legal?
Is it legal to reverse engineer certain features of a closed source application and then integrate those features into a closed or open source application that may be either a commercial or non-commercial application ?
Brownie points for an answer…

asheeshr
- 2,465
- 8
- 28
- 41
12
votes
5 answers
Is it legal to sell clean room engineered products?
The clean room technique is :
First, a team of engineers study the software and describe everything
it does as completely as possible without using or referencing any
actual code.
Then, a second team of programmers who had no prior knowledge…

asheeshr
- 2,465
- 8
- 28
- 41
3
votes
2 answers
Is it legal to publicly post about security issues without informing the provider first (in Europe)?
Do I have to contact the producer of a software before publicly posting (Twitter, Blog, ...) about security issues of it? Does it matter how this knowledge was acquired (reverse engineering, sniffing network traffic, trial & error, ...)? I'm living…

muffel
- 165
- 1
- 4
3
votes
1 answer
Is it legal to publish details on how to reverse engineer a non commercial game?
Say I used a game engine and made a game (from scratch on my own). Further, I provide details on how to reverse engineer my game, including methods and details.
Two questions.
Is it legal to do that?
Can I open my code and provide a use case of…

111
- 133
- 3
3
votes
1 answer
What are the legal issues when trying to reverse a mass transit ticketing system?
Following the question about "How to set-up a lab for reversing a mass transit ticketing system?", I would like to know what are the legal issues about setting up such a lab.
It seems clear that, depending on the country (or the continent:…

perror
- 19,083
- 29
- 87
- 150
2
votes
1 answer
What are the legal consequences of reverse engineering a program and telling the creator how you did it?
I'm just curious. What if someone were to crack a program to get past a registration window/process and then bring this vulnerability to light? Can the owner/creator prosecute you for doing so, even if you were trying to help him or her?

Keithers
- 123
- 5
1
vote
0 answers
Reading logs of commercial app and legality
Shortly, there is cheap chinese bluetooth lamp that can change colors by app on Android.
I am basically reading communication logs on my phone and retrieving communication protocols of the app. Then, I am writing my own app to connect to that lamp.…

Roman Lutai
- 11
- 1
0
votes
1 answer
Which countries allow reverse engineering for one of their licences when it permits unlimited software copying, & doesn't forbid reverse engineering?
I was under the impression that reverse engineering can mainly be legally prohibited in two ways: via copyright law forbidding the making of copies; and via an end-user licence agreement (EULA) specifically prohibiting reverse engineering.
I've come…
user28854