>>Hi JR,
>>
>>In Message#1662869, Rick Hodgin claims one or more of Chen's products violate the Microsoft VFP9 EULA and hence are not legal for use in the US (and perhaps other jurisdictions).
>>
>>That may have an effect on people or companies considering those products.
>>
>>You're the most experienced user of those products I know of. Would you or Chen care to comment?
>
>In the U.S., the Copyright Office is moving increasingly toward consumers in their abilities to repair the tangible / physical items they purchase. A new ruling went into effect this morning at 12:00am (ruled on October 26, 2018, but went into effect October 28, 2018), which allows for new provisions and guidance from the Copyright Office allowing users to repair their devices in many cases. The ruling is fairly wide-sweeping, but does limit itself and is not a blanket provision. It does signal that the U.S. Copyright Office is recognizing the rights of individuals, and seeks to protect their investments from undue control from IP holders.
>
>Ruling: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-10-26/pdf/2018-23241.pdf
>Summary: https://www.copyright.gov/1201/2018/
>Background: https://www.copyright.gov/1201/2018/2018_Section_1201_Acting_Registers_Recommendation.pdf

Library maintenance (for historical preservation) and security research are now legal in the U.S. It may be that patches which directly address security issues could be applied from Chen's work. But not for new features or bug fixes. Only true security threats, such as a legitimate security flaw allowing invading access to the software or machine through the known flaw in the software.

Pages 71-84 of this document highlight the security portion: https://www.copyright.gov/1201/2018/2018_NTIA_DMCA_Letter.pdf

It concludes with the proposed paragraph: "Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, regardless of the device on which they are run, when circumvention is initiated by the owner of the copy of the computer program or with the permission of the owner of the copy of the computer program, in order to conduct good-faith security research. This exemption does not obviate the need to comply with all other applicable laws and regulations."

>Stakeholder review: https://ifixit.org/blog/11951/1201-copyright-final-rule/