[iyonix-support] Licence question for Castle: Reverse enginering of software not allowed?
- From: Terje Slettebø <tslettebo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: iyonix-support@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2006 20:37:18 +0200
Hi.
When I got the Iyonix, I actually read the "Software End User Licence
Conditions" in the Welcome Guide, and I came across something I found
puzzling:
"1. (d) Except as authorised above or expressly permitted by statute you may
not: [...] reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Software"...
Now, if I run a disassembler on any part of the RISC OS, or any of the
supplied software, am I then in breach of the licence? I'm serious, here;
I'd really like an answer to that. I'm not a lawyer, and for all I know,
there may exist "statutes" that permit things like that, for example for
interoperability.
Seriously, folks... A big part of the "Acorn" community (i.e. Castle's
customers) are enthusiasts, who enjoy tinkering with their software and
hardware, perhaps achieving things not done before - I'd think quite a bit
of "reverse engineering" has gone into the making of the Aemulor, which is a
great boon to Castle and its customers, as it makes available a lot more
software than would otherwise exist, so it benefits everybody.
Therefore, I'm wondering if Castle may be "sawing over the branch they are
sitting on", with such apparently strict licensing terms. Am I overreacting?
Is this kind of licence common, even in Europe?
I'm aware that very controversial prohibitions of "reverse engineering"
exists in the DMCA in USA (where it has been used several times to block
competitors out..., or to prevent someone from improving a product they have
bought, or correcting problems with it), but I wasn't aware that it had
reared its ugly head in Europe...
Your comments, please (and especially welcome from Castle).
I was wondering if this might be off topic for this list, but it seems that
this could be a better place to ask it than e.g. the newsgroups, and by
asking in an open forum, rather than in e.g. a mail to Castle, others might
benefit from the information, as well. However, if this is considered off
topic, please let me know.
Regards,
Terje
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