DIRECTIVE 2009/24/EC – Article 6 – Decompilation

Article 6
Decompilation

  1. The authorisation of the rightholder shall not be required
    where reproduction of the code and translation of its form
    within the meaning of points (a) and (b) of Article 4(1) are
    indispensable to obtain the information necessary to achieve
    the interoperability of an independently created computer
    program with other programs, provided that the following
    conditions are met:

    (a) those acts are performed by the licensee or by another
    person having a right to use a copy of a program, or on
    their behalf by a person authorised to do so;

    (b) the information necessary to achieve interoperability has not
    previously been readily available to the persons referred to
    in point (a); and

    (c) those acts are confined to the parts of the original program
    which are necessary in order to achieve interoperability.
  2. The provisions of paragraph 1 shall not permit the information obtained through its application:

    (a) to be used for goals other than to achieve the interoperability of the independently created computer program;

    (b) to be given to others, except when necessary for the interoperability of the independently created computer program;
    or

    (c) to be used for the development, production or marketing of
    a computer program substantially similar in its expression,
    or for any other act which infringes copyright.
  3. In accordance with the provisions of the Berne
    Convention for the protection of Literary and Artistic Works,
    the provisions of this Article may not be interpreted in such a
    way as to allow its application to be used in a manner which
    unreasonably prejudices the rightholder’s legitimate interests or
    conflicts with a normal exploitation of the computer program.

Original in english and german.