Re: Microsoft's OS competitors

On Fri, 25 Apr 1997, Terry Carroll <carroll[_at_]tjc.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, 24 Apr 1997, David F. Crosby <dcrosby[_at_]usa1.com> wrote:
> >
> > This raises an interesting issue: MS could continue to using
> > infringing code in their software and theoretically, you cannot do
> > anything about it. If you purchase a license to their software, you
> > cannot reverse engineer/decompile it to determine whether they
> > infringe your copyright or patent. If you obtain a copy otherwise,
> > you may have committed copyright infringement. So how do you
> > determine if your patent / copyright is being infringed?
>
> Under Sega v. Accolade, if disassembly is the only way to gain
> access to a functional element in a computer program and there is a
> legitimate reason for seeking such access. disassembly is a fair use
> of the copyrighted work. I have no doubt that a reasonable
> suspicion that the computer program infringes a patent would count
> as a "legitimate use," provided the engineers performing the
> disassembly and the analysis of the disassembled version were
> properly refridgerated from competitive developers.

I agree. I would also suspect that even if you didn't have a fair use basis, you could take the license and breach the contract by decompiling it. What could Microsoft's damages be?

But Bradley Slutsky wrote:
>
> Reverse engineering is not legal if you agree in a contract that, in
> exchange for access to the materials, you will not reverse engineer
> them. No comment on the enforceability of that contract, which is an
> entirely different debate. Remember, though, that a jury returned a
> $13 million or so verdict against Stac on this issue. That probably
> has some deterrent effect.

What was the basis for $13 Million in damages?

Regards,
David F. Crosby
dcrosby[_at_]usa1.com
dcrosby[_at_]lappinkusmer.com Received on Tue Apr 29 1997 - 12:47:49 GMT