could lawfully engage in decompilation in order to circumvent the software locking mechanism used by Sega's game consoles. Additionally, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (PUBLIC LAW 105-304) has proper exemptions for both Security Testing and Evaluation in §1201(i), and Reverse Engineering in §1201(f).

In Europe, the 1991 Software Directive explicitly provides for a right to decompile in order to achieve interoperability.