The Research Of Software Reverse-engineering Legal Issues

With the rapid development of science and technology, the scope of application softwareproducts more widely, and the demand and feature requires more powerful. The high-techresearch and development process are constantly upgraded. Then, the legal issues associatedsoftware piracy and infringement have become increasingly prominent. Softwarereverse-engineering has been one of the hot topics discussed in the industry and the law.Because it has not been solved perfectly both in the legislative and judicial field, it remains aperennial legal issues. The software works is actually a special type of written works, exceptfor the functional expression of symbol or platform identification can not be expressed orunderstood by most people. In the final analysis, the software works should be similar withother written works, owning their own intellectual property. The general practice around theworld is separate legislation or implement protection by the system of the copyright act. Thecommon existence of software reverse-engineering determines its urgent reality andfeasibility to be resolved. Software reverse-engineering is a double-edged sword, dancingwell, all appropriate, or both suffer. As far as the current situation of the protection ofsoftware works in China, we have not yet formed a mature legal regulation system, resultingin many problems produced in the legal and judicial practice of software reverse-engineering.In this paper, three important legal issues of software reverse-engineering are deeply researchand analysis,through comparing the legislative and judicial situation of different countries,aswell as international treaties. Finally, combining our country’s legislative and judicialpresent condition, put forward a series of suggestions of building the legal system of softwarereverse-engineering system in China.