EU court rules no EULA can forbid decompilation, if you want to fix a bug (curia.europa.eu)

Article summary

The EU court has ruled that no End User License Agreement (EULA) can forbid decompilation of software for the purpose of fixing bugs. This ruling may allow users to create and distribute patches for software, but it is unclear if it permits redistribution of the fixed product. The discussion revolves around the implications of this ruling on software usage and distribution. The ruling's specifics and limitations are still being debated.

Main themes

• EU court ruling on decompilation
• Software usage and distribution rights
• EULA limitations and implications
• Copyright infringement and fair use
• Software patching and modification
• Digital goods and first sale doctrine

What commenters say

• Decompiling software to fix bugs is allowed under the EU court ruling, but redistributing the fixed product may still be a copyright infringement.
• Distributing patches for software may be permitted, as long as the patch does not include copyrighted material.
• The EULA is not the only thing that authorizes software use, and users may have rights to use software regardless of the EULA.
• Redistributing a fixed product would likely infringe on the copyright holder's exclusive distribution rights.
• Creating and distributing tools to help users fix their own software may be allowed.
• The distinction between applying a patch oneself and using a script to apply the patch is unclear and may have legal implications.
• The EU court ruling may not apply to cases where the software is distributed under a different business model, such as subscription-based services.
• The first sale doctrine may not apply to digital goods, which could limit users' rights to modify and distribute software.