Research On Intellectual Property Law Of Reverse Engineering Of Software

Considering themselves interests, the software providers usually do not provide the source code that people can read but the destination code that can be read by computer, which will limit the right of reading of users. Through the software reverse engineering the destination code will be traced back to a readable source code. By disassembling and decompiling, the destination code will be changed into the source code which be used for analyzing the thought, principle, process, algorithm, structure of software. A large amount of creative work is used in analyzing the destination code and the source code, so software reverse engineering is greatly differ from piracy which can be completed by simple copying. Due to many legitimate purposes such as technology researching, software security testing, evidence obtaining and new software developing, it is necessary to confirm the software reverse engineering. In order to balance the rights and interests of the copyright owner and doer, it is necessary to limit the use of reverse engineering of the software, the purpose and the results of the implementation of the software reverse engineering. According to the classification of software using the breadth, the distinction of reverse engineering, is conducive to encouraging innovation and avoid infringement of software enterprises. In reverse engineering, the copy of the existing program code is fair use which be adjusted by copyright law, and if doer meets trade secret then his action should be adjusted by trade secret law and patent by patent law. Therefore, the protection and restriction of software reverse engineering need to be adjusted in many dimensions. Software companies’technical measure adopting and software reverse engineering prohibiting protect his products as well infringe upon public interest, therefore, this kind of behavior should be restricted or denied its effectiveness. The existing laws of intellectual property rights in our state can not provide the proper protection for the software reverse engineering, which leads to the domestic software industry in the competition in a disadvantageous position. Europe and the United States and other countries on the reverse engineering of the software legislation provides a wealth of theoretical material for us, which contributes to the development of relevant legislation in our country. In compliance with international treaties, based on the reality of our country, learning and absorbing advanced theory, our state should establish and perfect the legal system of intellectual property rights on software reverse engineering.