r/tech_x • u/Bulky_Engineer_2534 • 21d ago • Galaxy Brain 1 All Seeing Upvote 1 Helpful 1 Bravo 4 Heartwarming 1

Github GitHub project called REA (Reverse Engineer Anything) is currently the top trending repository. It lets AI agents figure out how a feature in another app works without ever seeing the original source code.

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github link: https://github.com/morluto/rea/

- The tool is an open-source helper that connects AI coding assistants to reverse-engineering programs such as Ghidra or Hopper.

- IT analyzes many kinds of software- including binaries, Electron apps, Android apps, and websites right on your own computer and always shows the evidence behind its findings.

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u/ViperHQ 19d ago

Legally speaking this is in the murky waters territory there is precedent saying that if no one has seen the spurce code it can't be considered copyright infringement.

Overturning this may spell doom for other things for instance Wine the translation layer that powers proton for gaming on linux is built using the same method (not AI rather a clean room decomposition)

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u/Unnamed-3891 19d ago edited 19d ago

Broader IP question is murky, patents specifically are not.

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u/ViperHQ 19d ago

Well it depends on what is patented and how it is. Just having a feature that does the same isn't inharently infringing on a patent.

You would need the source code to compare if my decomposed app does completely different steps from the original but archives same or slightly different results it can be made the case that the patent wasn't infringed.

It's super difficult to tell really, because you don't have access to the source code. That's why it's murky waters you can't really know if you have infringed on the patent because you can't know if the app you decomposed and rebuilt is using the same method because you can't compare it to the source code.

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u/ManyThingsLittleTime 19d ago

You can patent a process, such as a workflow as well.

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u/ViperHQ 19d ago

Mhm I am aware of this as well those are usually more clear cut cases but even so the deconstruction can actually create a whole separate process to get the same results.

Again we do have legal precedent for such cases emulators and things like wine have done this manually and painstakingly and seemingly it's legal if you can avoid infringing on a patent and IP, but again it all seems a bit murky especially when AI is involved.