Are licensing provisions prohibiting reverse engineering enforceable?
While the validity of licensing prohibitions of reverse engineering has not yet been decided by courts, the conflict between state laws that would enforce these provisions and federal intellectual property law has been addressed. When considering cases where breach of contract or trade secret misappropriation is claimed (both state law claims), courts must first determine whether or not intellectual property law preempts those contracts enforced by the individual state. Preemption occurs when courts determine that federal intellectual property law must be considered in order to address the issues involved in the particular provisions. Section 301 of the Copyright Act provides that a state law claim is preempted if: (1) the work to be protected comes within the subject matter of copyright; and (2) the state-created right forming the basis of the state law claim is equivalent to any of the exclusive rights within the general scope of copyright.” In order for the claim to be preempted it
Related Questions
- If the law says you need the P.Eng. to practice engineering, and there are people working out there who don have it, why aren the professions licensing bodies doing more to enforce the law?
- Are licensing provisions prohibiting reverse engineering enforceable?
- How much does circuit reverse engineering cost?
