Legal Definitions - Reverse engineering

Reverse engineering is a process of figuring out how something works by taking it apart and examining its components. This method is often used in machine development, software maintenance, and other areas.

For example, if a company wants to create a product similar to a competitor's, they may use reverse engineering to analyze the competitor's product and figure out how it was made. Similarly, attackers may use reverse engineering to find weaknesses in software and create malware.

Reverse engineering is generally legal, but it can be used for both beneficial and harmful purposes. In trade secret law, reverse engineering is considered an allowed method to discover a trade secret. However, in patent law, reverse engineering is not a defense because the patent owner has exclusive rights to use, own, or develop the patent.