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by zyM7A6bQzJKBHnS 3972 days ago
> the reverse engineering is prohibited for ages

Not in some countries. Oracle would be against the law in that case, that's why people are unhappy.

1 comments

Exactly, in Holland there is law "artikel 45m" http://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0001886/geldigheidsdatum_30-04... which states, and I will try to translate. Main message: reverse engineering is allowed for interoperability reasons.

"It is not considered infringement of the copyright in a work referred to in Article 10, first paragraph, under 12°, if a copy is made of that work and the code is translated, in the case that these acts are indispensable to obtain the information which is necessary in order to achieve the interoperability of an independently manufactured computer program with other computer programs, provided that:

a. these acts are performed by a person who has gained access to lawfully obtained copy of the computer program or by a third person authorized by him;

b. the data that are necessary in order to achieve the interoperability, are not alreadyquickly and readily available to the persons referred to in point a;

c. these operations are confined to the parts of the original computer program which are necessary to achieve interoperability."

Repairing errors is part of another "artikel", http://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0001886/geldigheidsdatum_30-04...,

"Unless otherwise agreed, is not considered an infringement of the copyright in a work referred to in Article 10, first paragraph, under 12°, to reproduce the work ​by a lawful acquirer of aforementioned work with its intended use. The reproduction referred to in the first sentence, which takes place in the context of starting up, visualizing something, or correcting errors, can not be prohibited by contract."

That correcting errors by the customer cannot be prohibited by an EULA is something Oracle probably won't like. :-)