🚀 go-pugleaf

   It seems that the European Commission is considering a set of laws
   that would substantially extend copyright protection in the EC.
   The proposal would apparently prohibit disassembling code in order
   to learn the operational details of proprietary protocols.  

   In the U.S. (and most other countries, I believe), if two devices
   communicate using a protocol which the manufacture refuses to publish,
   one can reverse engineer it (assuming no patents), both by looking at
   communication in action and by disassembling the code which drives it.
   Copyright protects the code only from being copied, not against having
   its functionality determined.  The proposed law would prohibit this
   type of analysis.

It seems very unlikely that the UK would go along with something like this
after the great controversy over Must-fit/Must-match in the Intellectual
Property bill. Must-fit designs are found in pattern parts for cars,  door panels,
brake pads, etc., which must have lugs and holes in the right place if they 
are to replace existing parts- the law as originally drafted would have made 
most of the vehicle aftermarket illegal. The SMMT kicked up a mighty fuss, and 
in the end, permission for Must-fit copying was incorporated in the bill.
The analogy seems obvious.

Simon

Disclaimer: I'm a Compsky, not a Lawyer, but I could be lying anyway.
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The Poll Tax.    |`And in my mind that's all you'll ever be|DoC,Imperial 
I'm Not. Are you?|  Spongiform Encepalophaphy' T Tikkaram  |College,London SW7
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