Study On Reverse Engineering In Sofrware Copyright Protection

In 2020,the Copyright Law was amended for the third time to incorporate the exception of "reverse engineering" to circumvent technical measures into its system for the first time,which is an important initiative of China to respond to the development of computer network.However,there is still a large legal gap in the amended Copyright Law in solving many controversial issues arising from "reverse engineering",especially the reverse engineering issue in software copyright protection.The innovation point of this article is that,inspired from the "Oracle v.Google" case in the United States,the "contract issue","technical measure issue" and "fair use issue"involved in reverse engineering in software copyright protection are put into practice."and "fair use issue" in software copyright protection,and from the technical analysis of reverse engineering,the applicable bases of copyright law regulating software reverse engineering,combined with corresponding laws and regulations,judicial cases and overseas experience,sorted out the reasons for the existence of the three issues and their relationship,and combined with the basic national conditions of China’s software industry to propose the corresponding solutions.It also proposes corresponding suggestions in the light of the basic national conditions of China’s software industry.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,this paper is divided into four chapters.Chapter 1 provides an overview of software reverse engineering.By introducing the definition of software reverse engineering,we explore the specific implementation content of software reverse engineering,including the way of software reverse engineering implementation and the process of implementation,and by introducing the definition of reverse engineering,we clarify the connection and difference between software reverse engineering and other products reverse engineering.Through the above analysis,the relationship between the act of software reverse engineering and copyright is clarified,and the basis for the application of software reverse engineering copyright law is derived.Chapter 2 analyzes the main issues of reverse engineering in software copyright protection.Combining with laws and regulations,relevant judicial cases and views of academic circles,it introduces how copyright owners regulate reverse engineering by contract in software copyright protection,and the dispute on the effectiveness of the "anti-reverse engineering clause" therein;how copyright owners regulate reverse engineering by technical measures,judgment on the legality of reverse engineering circumvention technical measures,fair use defense of reverse engineering circumvention technical measures;and reasonable use defense of reasonable engineering circumvention technical measures.The copyrightability of various parts of software works in the fair use system,the relationship between reverse engineering and the copyright of the original work,and the feasibility of reverse engineering constituting fair use.Chapter 3 introduces the overseas experience in resolving reverse engineering disputes in software copyright protection.It mainly introduces how the United States and the European Union coordinate the issue of reverse engineering of software in contract law,technical measures exception and fair use system,and how to coordinate the conflicts between the "anti-reverse engineering clause","technical measures" and fair use.This part also introduces the extraterritorial experiences of Australia,Russia and other countries in solving the above three types of problems,and compares and analyzes the extraterritorial experiences of different countries.Chapter 4 puts forward thoughts on the controversial issue of reverse engineering in China’s software copyright protection.According to the relevant legislative situation and legal gaps in China,drawing on the extraterritorial experience of the United States,the European Union and other countries and regions in the legislation and judicial aspects of reverse engineering,and based on the laws of China,the feasibility of the negation of the effect of the "anti-reverse engineering clause" is analyzed,and the legal interpretation issues in the exception of reverse engineering for circumventing technical measures,the scope of software copyright protection that needs to be further clarified in the fair use system,and the scope of software copyright protection that needs to be further clarified in the fair use system are analyzed.The legal interpretation of the exception of reverse engineering to circumvent technical measures,the scope of software copyright protection that needs to be further clarified in the fair use system,the fair use status of reverse engineering that needs to be further clarified in the copyright law,the conditions required for reverse engineering to constitute fair use,and the coordination among the three types of issues are all suggested accordingly.