Is it legal to decompile code?

[naseem]

I recently read that it is legal to decompile for purposes like interoperability and learning the algorithms used. What does this mean? For interoperability, it seems to suggest that it would be legal to decompile the code so that a PS3 game could be run on a non-PS3 system, such as a PC. For the part about algorithms, what defines an algorithm? Aren't algorithms patented all the time? Wouldn't decompiling patented or copyrighted methods be illegal? I also read about Sega vs. Accolade, but that seemed a very narrow case study. I'm hoping for a rule of thumb or something like that.

[seme22]

Read the EULA with the software nearly all commercial licenses say something like "You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the Software" (Nearly all Microsoft software) or "You agree that you will not, under any circumstances: in whole or in part, copy, photocopy, reproduce, translate, reverse engineer, derive source code from, modify, disassemble, decompile, or create derivative works based on the Game" - World of Warcraft EULA

Not too hard to understand.

[jan46]

You can do it for your own learning experience, (technically you are supposed to delete it within 24 hours) but if you decompiled a PS3 game and ported it to a computer you have 2 problems:

1) Copyright laws if you distribute it.
2) PS3 network would ban any account using it instantly if it was used online because the hardware IDs would not match a legit system (how they keep modders from using modded systems online). Its one thing to flash the firmware on a optical disk to bend the rules, but completely changed hardware... not gonna happen.

[chavivi]

You can do it for your own learning experience, (technically you are supposed to delete it within 24 hours) but if you decompiled a PS3 game and ported it to a computer you have 2 problems:

1) Copyright laws if you distribute it.
2) PS3 network would ban any account using it instantly if it was used online because the hardware IDs would not match a legit system (how they keep modders from using modded systems online). Its one thing to flash the firmware on a optical disk to bend the rules, but completely changed hardware... not gonna happen.

Hello,


Time to take a break from Microsoft and/or MacOS software.
I think you will find what you seek from the Wikipedia article on Open Source Software @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software

Game companies make more profit by releasing games that are supported by multiple platforms.

[wethrby]

You can do it for your own learning experience, (technically you are supposed to delete it within 24 hours) but if you decompiled a PS3 game and ported it to a computer you have 2 problems:

1) Copyright laws if you distribute it.
2) PS3 network would ban any account using it instantly if it was used online because the hardware IDs would not match a legit system (how they keep modders from using modded systems online). Its one thing to flash the firmware on a optical disk to bend the rules, but completely changed hardware... not gonna happen.

Hello,


Time to take a break from Microsoft and/or MacOS software.
I think you will find what you seek from the Wikipedia article on Open Source Software @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software

Game companies make more profit by releasing games that are supported by multiple platforms.

It depends on the license agreement being used, but generally proprietary code cannot be legally decompiled or dissembled for any reason according to most commercial license agreements. If a program needs to be inter-operable then really all you're doing is changing how the program is loaded for 1 of 4 kinds of operating systems (Windows, OS X, Linux or UNIX/BSD systems (they all function very similar and have nearly identical file systems and execution methods that don't vary much from AIX to FreeBSD...and porting between the various UNIX systems is really only a matter of having the system compile the program instead of distributing a binary program)) and how it looks based on whatever desktop environment you're using (and there are really only maybe 6 that people really care about). An algorithm is really just a methodical approach of solving a problem, and most daily tasks you perform really are algorithms, even starting your car and driving to work. More complex software algorithms may be patented to protect exactly how a problem is solved, and most of the algorithms in the Havok physics engine and in the Frostbite 2 game engine have several patents to protect their physics calculation and simulation capabilities since both have very powerful physics.