This decision does not lie well with me.
Of course, the competitor agreed not to reverse engineer the software - under the definition "attempting to produce a copy", they definitely did reverse engineer.
But does that mean that re-implementing the same interface is reverse-engineering? That would be scary and terrible for competition.
No software with a reverse-engineering clause could have a clone. Does Windows have one? If yes, Wine developers could not compare if a game works under Wine correctly.
What about APIs? Is it forbidden for US citizens to create NVIDIA CUDA clones now? If someone found a way to reproduce some Photoshop image filter, is it forbidden to compare the resuls? MS Word-produced files?
I really don't like where this is going. Thankfully, reverse engineering cannot be forbidden in the EU (unless I'm wrong).
EDIT: I guess my main gripe is that if the owners of proprietary "standards" which achieved monopoly can effectively forbid any alternatives, cementing the monopolies.
Of course, the competitor agreed not to reverse engineer the software - under the definition "attempting to produce a copy", they definitely did reverse engineer.
But does that mean that re-implementing the same interface is reverse-engineering? That would be scary and terrible for competition.
No software with a reverse-engineering clause could have a clone. Does Windows have one? If yes, Wine developers could not compare if a game works under Wine correctly.
What about APIs? Is it forbidden for US citizens to create NVIDIA CUDA clones now? If someone found a way to reproduce some Photoshop image filter, is it forbidden to compare the resuls? MS Word-produced files?
I really don't like where this is going. Thankfully, reverse engineering cannot be forbidden in the EU (unless I'm wrong).
EDIT: I guess my main gripe is that if the owners of proprietary "standards" which achieved monopoly can effectively forbid any alternatives, cementing the monopolies.