Document Type
Note
Abstract
The goal of copyright law is utilitarian in nature; it is to disseminate artistic and scientific works that will ultimately benefit society. Copyright law provides an incentive for authors to create new expressive works by granting them exclusive rights so that they may receive economic benefits for their work. Computer software has become difficult to place within the context of copyright law because it is challenging for authors of computer software to disseminate their ideas and simultaneously control access to their work so that they may benefit financially from its reproduction. The fair use defense for reverse engineering is thought to be a positive limitation on copyright law that allows the public to use and understand ideas within a program, and therefore progress science and the useful arts. Bowers v. Baystate Technologies, Inc. displays how courts tow a dangerous line when trying to not only protect the author from the financial hardship that results from the unauthorized appropriation of a program’s code, but also prevent the author from having a monopoly over the ideas contained in the program. This Note argues that reverse engineering should not constitute a copyright fair use defense and uses Bowers as a conduit to show why reverse engineering is an inadequate solution to the complications surrounding copyright law’s protection of computer software.
Following this introduction, Part II of this Note will examine the use of reverse engineering to facilitate computer software innovation. Part III will discuss the permissible exclusive rights outlined in copyright law, how and why computer software is copyrightable, and how reverse engineering may be an infringement to copyright law. Part IV will analyze the fair use provision of the Copyright Act. Part V will describe the fundamental facts and opinions of Bowers. Finally, Part VI will use Bowers to explain why reverse engineering should not constitute a copyright fair use defense.
Recommended Citation
Nicholas Camillo,
Bowers v. Baystate Technologies: The Unfair Use Doctrine of Reverse Engineering,
20 J. Tech. L. & Pol'y
(2015).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/jtlp/vol20/iss2/2