Shrinkwrap Ban On Reverse-Engineering Appealed

The Massachusetts court case which upheld a software shrinkwrap contract prohibition against reverse-engineering (Bowers v Baystate Technologies), is now being challenged in an appeal. See the article:

Legal Scholars and Library Groups Seek Clarification From Court on Software Licenses(via GrepLaw)

Worth reading, on this topic:

"Should Software Companies Be Able, Through Contracts, To Prevent Competitors From "Reverse Engineering" Their Products", by Chris Sprigman.

I commented about this in an earlier blog entry. To get an idea of what sort of onerous terms are being put in licenses, take a look at this one, just to use Websense's form for looking up sites on Websense's blacklist:

Site Lookup Terms of Use

By using the Websense Site Lookup, you warrant that you are a Websense customer or you are evaluating Websense Enterprise software as a prospective Subscriber. You acknowledge and agree that the information contained in the Websense Site Lookup is to be accessed or used strictly for your own internal use as a Subscriber of Websense Enterprise or in evaluating the performance of Websense Enterprise to facilitate your purchase decision. You may not transfer or assign your right to access or use the information to any other party for any reason. Any other access or use of the information contained in the Websense Site Lookup is strictly prohibited. Websense may terminate your right to access or use the information contained in the Websense Site lookup at any time and for any reason.

By Seth Finkelstein | posted in legal | on October 28, 2002 03:13 PM (Infothought permalink)