I think you're conflating a number of different things that are distinct: 1) Copyright 2) Reverse engineering 3) Patents 4) DRM 5) EULA Reverse engineerin

I think you're conflating a number of different things that are distinct: 1) Copyright 2) Reverse engineering 3) Patents 4) DRM 5) EULA Reverse engineering is legal. Copyright doesn't prohibit reverse engineering. But reverse engineering is also usually very difficult. There's no law that says you have to make it easy for someone to reverse engineer your product, nor should there be IMO. The current patent system is crazy. Too many simple, overly broad patents granted by a patent office that doesn't even truly understand what they're looking at. I would definitely reform or abolish that system. IMO the main problem today with anti-consumer products is not copyright but rather DRM. When the seller locks down the product and prevents the consumer from using the product as they please after they pay for the product and bring it home. DRM has a legitimate use to protect theft, but DRM has gone too far: it's not used just to prevent theft but also to control. The solution to this problem is not "free software" but rather protecting consumer legal rights.