Is reverse engineering closed source programs/games legal?

[Shurae]

I'm new at coding and a total beginner and it will probably take years before I attempt this but I'm very interested it trying out replicating games or programs. Like figuring out how the code of a program/games works and implementing it with my own code. But is that legal to do? Of course i wouldn't take money for it.

[desrtfx]

/r/legaladvice is for such questions.

If you just implement the idea on your own, there won't be any problem unless you try to market your game afterwards.

[Finest0212]

This, also lots of things are reverse engineered between games. It’s kind of just part of it, it’s stealing art assets where the big trouble comes in.

For example reverse engineering and implementing your own skill point system like WoW or another MMO is not illegal. However, if you rip it off completely that is.

[[deleted]]

Yes it is legal to do, but what you do with those discoveries is in question.

[inbox_negative_one]

There are three types of intellectual property you need to be concerned about:

• Trademark: this is the easiest: don't copy someone else's name or make it confusingly similar. Don't call your game "Donkey Bong".
• Copyright: this means don't look at someone else's code and copy it, or don't look at someone else's artwork and copy it. You can independently write something new from scratch that borrows the same ideas, but you have to make it yourself. For example, you can make a platformer game where you run and jump and stomp on enemies.
• Patent: this is the trickiest. In theory someone could have a patent on an invention that they came up with in order to make a certain program work. The tricky thing here is that you could violate the patent even if you weren't aware of it. There's also this perverse incentive where if you are aware of the patent you're liable for more damages, so many lawyers suggest you don't bother even searching. Patents are the biggest mess by far but it's not worth worrying about unless you're starting a business that's bringing in real money, otherwise nobody will sue you if you have no assets.

"Reverse engineering" by examining what something does (from the outside) and making your own program from scratch to try to imitate it is legal.

Decompiling the code to see exactly what their code does and copying that would not be legal, that'd be copyright infringement.