Comment Re:hmm (Score 1) 189
I think you're missing an important point:
Clean room reverse engineering and reimplementation.
One team of tainted developers reverse-engineer the code, and write a spec.
Another team of *untainted* developers only get to see the spec, and write code that conforms to this spec.
At least that's how I understood it. Basically, they have a legal way of reimplementing things, including any hidden APIs. Of course, in the US, the DMCA might make the first part illegal, but that part can be done elsewhere if that is the case, and I don't think the spec is legally tainted by any infringement of the DMCA, at least not if it's done outside US juris(male)diction.
Clean room reverse engineering and reimplementation.
One team of tainted developers reverse-engineer the code, and write a spec.
Another team of *untainted* developers only get to see the spec, and write code that conforms to this spec.
At least that's how I understood it. Basically, they have a legal way of reimplementing things, including any hidden APIs. Of course, in the US, the DMCA might make the first part illegal, but that part can be done elsewhere if that is the case, and I don't think the spec is legally tainted by any infringement of the DMCA, at least not if it's done outside US juris(male)diction.
