Author: Rolf Tueschen
Date: 11:44:38 01/22/06
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On January 22, 2006 at 11:17:20, Frank Wies wrote: >Reverse engineering is not illegal. There are firms in the US that reverse >engineer EVERY semiconductor device and software product that is produced, >including old designs with new features like Pentium and Athlon. They are paid >by companies like Intel, AMD and Microsoft to name a few. > >What is illegal is using that knowledge to bring out directly or indirectly >competitive products that substantially use the same code or structures to >execute the same or similar functions and the original code. If you have ever >wondered why the big companies are obsessed with patents it is because >occasionally they violate these rules and when they are caught and a lawsuit is >filed, the usual outcome is that they countersue and it is settled out of court >by cash and trading patents by each party. Every one of these large companies >has a project or two that is in the gray area! > >I was personally involved with a company whose CEO went to state prison in CA. >He ended up in San Quentin. The CEO of Cypress Semiconductor, TJ Rodgers saw the >EXACT same code in the new CAD tool that this company was selling and sent a >note to the CEO of Cadence Design Systems who prosecuted this guy without mercy! > >The only way to get around this law is to produce a competitive product in a >"cleanroom" environment and write code from scratch, that does not have any of >the above noted violations. This happens all the time in the semiconductor >business but it requires very careful documentation in order to prevent an >extended stay in the local state prison. > >Dr. Hyatt's post is correct, and based on the competitive nature of man, I don't >think that it is unethical to study Rybka for any purpose. This process is >leading to better, faster and more intelligent chess engines and players. > >Regards, >Frank Thanks very much for your input. From a real expert. I'm looking forward to future contributions from your side. Thanks again.
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