...
For Viltrox to reverse engineer the lens mount & electronics is one thing.
...
On the one hand I'm surprised - on the other it indicates Viltrox aren't worried about Nikon getting upset.
(I've no idea whether firmware is normally protected by copyright in the same way "mainstream software" is)
In my past work as an IT professional, sometimes I've snooped over source code at the machine level...
Even the act of snooping over code is sanctioned by law in some jurisdictions.
I remember there was a court case between two of the big IT companies, don't remember exactly which ones but it was companies of the size and power of Apple and Microsoft.
One company had given its IT engineers the task to duplicate the work of a peripheral, but to avoid any copyright infringement they only gave them the specs: it should do this and that, and that and also that, ... No source code given. Naturally they had decompiled the software (to have an exhaustive spec list), but it's impossible to prove they did it... The engineers had to reinvent all the inner workings of the firmware, and of course their implementation did not duplicate the competitor's. Only functionally equal, but the inner workings were different. Still, there was quarrelling over copyright infringement... In the end, court salomonically decided its inability to rule and to prove anyhing conclusive, no refund given to anyone, each company had to pay its own legal expenses...
Possibly the reason why Nikon is not acting (or reluctant to act legally) is because a legal action between Japan and China is goiing to be an endless war, with only expenses and no real winner.
Ciao from Massimo
