Video Games and Reverse Engineering: Before and After the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................210 I. THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CONTEXT OF REVERSE ENGINEERING..............................................................................212 A. Intellectual Property Law and Reverse Engineering ............212 B. No Coherent Treatment of Reverse Engineering.................215 II. REVERSE ENGINEERING IN THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY .....216 A. Reverse Engineering Platform Access ..................................217 B. Reverse Engineering Hardware ............................................218 C. Reverse Engineering Game Designs.....................................220 III. PRE-DMCA CASE LAW FOR REVERSE ENGINEERING...........221 A. Atari v. Nintendo..................................................................221 B. Sega v. Accolade....................................................................223 C. Sony v. Connectix .................................................................225 D. The Reverse Engineering Balance ........................................226 1. Manufacturers Control Reverse Engineering Cost.......227 2. Platform Access .............................................................227 3. Healthy Balance ............................................................228 IV. THE DMCA AND REVERSE ENGINEERING..............................229 A. Anti-Circumvention and Reverse Engineering ....................229 1. One Difficulty and Danger of the DMCA...................230 2. The Act of Circumvention and Anti-Circumvention Technology ...................................................................230 3. Reverse Engineering Restrictions..................................231 B. Universal City Studios v. Reimerdes.....................................232 C. Video Game Reverse Engineering Under the DMCA ........233 CONCLUSION...................................................................................235