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Even without software patents, I doubt it's legal in most of the world to implement something using somebody else's stolen source code. A clean room process wou

Even without software patents, I doubt it's legal in most of the world to implement something using somebody else's stolen source code. A clean room process would still be necessary.

cauefcr 5y ago
It really depends on the country, afaik it is legal to do straight up reverse engineering in Brazil.
- orev 5y ago
  Reverse engineering is the opposite of using stolen source code to reimplement something, and it’s legal most places.
mistrial9 5y ago
there will always be "race to the bottom" labs and territories. The questions lie in "what restrictions will be placed in the markets as the results of the leak drift back and reappear en-masse".. China (printing capital) does not respect written word copyright in English.. this has been going on for decades.
xbar 5y ago
It depends on how you define "most of the world." By country count, in most of the world (>50%), there is not a notion of "stealing source code." There are notions of stealing cattle and pottery. But legal frameworks have not really caught up.
benbristow 5y ago
What about projects like WINE - now in use by corporations like Valve? Surely someone who's worked on the project must have seen Microsoft/Windows source code.
- jaywalk 5y ago
  Wine explicitly disallows contributions from anyone who has seen Microsoft Windows source code: https://wiki.winehq.org/Developer_FAQ#Who_can.27t_contribute_to_Wine.3F https://wiki.winehq.org/Developer_FAQ#Who_can.27t_contribute... Also, their Clean Room Guidelines: https://wiki.winehq.org/Clean_Room_Guidelines https://wiki.winehq.org/Clean_Room_Guidelines
  - benbristow 5y ago
    Sure but the WINE folk don’t really know either way if a contributor who contributes has seen it, unless they do some background checks or their email literally ends with @microsoft.com (even then they could be in another Microsoft team away from Windows)
    - jaywalk 5y ago
      Of course, but they've insulated themselves as best they can.

Even without software patents, I doubt it's legal in most of the world to implement something using somebody else's stolen source code. A clean room process would still be necessary.

cauefcr 5y ago

It really depends on the country, afaik it is legal to do straight up reverse engineering in Brazil.

orev 5y ago
Reverse engineering is the opposite of using stolen source code to reimplement something, and it’s legal most places.

mistrial9 5y ago

there will always be "race to the bottom" labs and territories. The questions lie in "what restrictions will be placed in the markets as the results of the leak drift back and reappear en-masse".. China (printing capital) does not respect written word copyright in English.. this has been going on for decades.

xbar 5y ago

It depends on how you define "most of the world." By country count, in most of the world (>50%), there is not a notion of "stealing source code." There are notions of stealing cattle and pottery. But legal frameworks have not really caught up.

benbristow 5y ago

What about projects like WINE - now in use by corporations like Valve? Surely someone who's worked on the project must have seen Microsoft/Windows source code.

jaywalk 5y ago
Wine explicitly disallows contributions from anyone who has seen Microsoft Windows source code: https://wiki.winehq.org/Developer_FAQ#Who_can.27t_contribute_to_Wine.3F https://wiki.winehq.org/Developer_FAQ#Who_can.27t_contribute... Also, their Clean Room Guidelines: https://wiki.winehq.org/Clean_Room_Guidelines https://wiki.winehq.org/Clean_Room_Guidelines
- benbristow 5y ago
  Sure but the WINE folk don’t really know either way if a contributor who contributes has seen it, unless they do some background checks or their email literally ends with @microsoft.com (even then they could be in another Microsoft team away from Windows)
  - jaywalk 5y ago
    Of course, but they've insulated themselves as best they can.