This contract tip is about reverse engineering provisions in contracts prohibit taking something apart to figure out how it is made. Whether the purchaser of a product may do so depends on these three factors:
1. Is there a contract and what does the contract say - Buyers of tangible products have some rights to take them apart under the first sale doctrine. This doctrine restricts a patent and copyright owner's right to control how their product is used after selling it. But the customer may be restricted from reverse engineering a product if the license terms or confidentiality provision prohibits it.
2. Where and how the reverse engineering occurs and for what purpose - Some jurisdictions (like the U.S.) regularly enforce anti-reverse engineering provisions. Other jurisdictions are less likely to. There may be exceptions for repairing the product or figuring out its interoperability in jurisdictions that will enforce these restrictions. But even then, buyers may face restrictions on bypassing technical protection measures.
3. What are you going to do with it - Even if you can reverse engineer something, you may not be able to use what you learned. For example, a buyer of a patent-protected widget may be allowed to take it apart under the first sale doctrine, but that buyer cannot use, make, sell or import anything that would violate the patent owner's rights.
What other nuances of reverse engineering provisions would you add to this overview? How does your jurisdiction handle reverse engineering?
