BTW, in the European Union, reverse-engineering is perfectly legal, if it is done to ensure compatibility with the current tech.
replyI cannot cite the reliable sources for it, though.
Once it hits 70 years from the lifetime of the author (so probably another 80 or 90 years from now) and is in public domain, that might change things since there will no longer be copyright being protected.
replyIn terms of copyright terms, this software is still pretty young, not even halfway to public domain. It's disrespectful to call it "very old".
Defeating a copy protection measure is illegal, even if the copy protection measure is not copyrighted.
replyI'm not talking about the copy protection, but the software being protected.
replySurely if the work being protected isn't copyrighted, there's nothing to circumvent in terms of the DMCA?
A non–copyrighted work can still have a copy protection measure
replyIt's illegal.
replyhttps://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2009/24/oj/eng
replyDirective 2009/24/EC, Article 5 + Article 6
Under special circumstances it's legal within the EU do do this.
And removing a freaking old copy protection dongle to allow emulation of the software you legally are allowed to use falls under this.