The EEC Directive on the Legal Protection of Computer Programs and U.S. Copyright Law: Should Copyright Law Permit Reverse Engineering of Computer Programs?

This Note compares the reverse engineering exception in the Directive with U.S. copyright law. Part I sets forth the background of copyright law for computer software, with emphasis on the act of reverse engineering. Part II charts the evolution of the reverse engineering exception in the Directive, and the debate that this exception has spurred. Part III compares the Directive\u27s reverse engineering exception with the U.S. copyright law that is applicable to reverse engineering. Part IV argues that U.S. law prohibits reverse engineering, and that the Community could better serve the European software industry by similarly granting broad copyright protection without a reverse engineering exception. This Note concludes that the inclusion in the Directive of an exception permitting unauthorized reverse engineering is misguided. Instead, Community legislation should confer broad copyright protection to the rightholde