Thread: I'm Porting Blackberry Messenger on the N900
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WereCatf is offline WereCatf
2010-11-07 , 15:45
Posts: 255 | Thanked: 160 times | Joined on Oct 2010 @ Finland
#45
Originally Posted by dannym View Post
What does "protected" mean here?
If you mean that you can't write your own implementation, patents are bad but they are not that bad (yet). You just can't distribute the result.
Actually, you are in breach of a patent even if you are not distributing the result. It's not copyright, copyright law applies when you distribute something, patent law applies always. Thus, even if you didn't distribute the result you'd still be in breach and could be sued legally and there's nothing you can do about it.

(This doesn't apply to countries that do not honor patents)

>even if reverse engineering itself would be legal,

1) It is. (I am not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice)
No, in most countries it isn't. Especially in the USA DMCA explicitly forbids reverse-engineering efforts in almost all cases and you'd be liable and could be sued.

2) How would anyone know you did?
How would you prove that you didn't? If you distribute code that accesses things that could have only been learned through reverse-engineering but you can't prove you learned the methods from someone else you'd most likely be found guilty.
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