What kind of techniques can I legally use to discover if a pr oduc t really is violating some (L)GPL code ?

[Peter Roozemaal]

Diamant-Berger, Antoine wrote:

> You say that the EULA is the one that would restrict
> reverse-engineering, but at which point does it take effect? If I
> don't install the software and only look at it from the "outside", do
>  you think it still is binding?

Copyright law will prohibit you from disclosing disassembly listings
without permission of the copyright owner. You should consult your local
law to check what conditions are placed on reverse engineering; I know
Dutch law is pretty liberal, but French law may be different.

I do think that a strong argument can be made that EULAs for store-
bought software are not binding on the consumer under EU consumer
protection laws. However I am not aware of a legal decision saying so.
As long as you didn't accept the EULA and _NEVER_ accepted the EULA
before, you are not bound by it. (The other party may try all unfair
means to make the conditions stick to you.)
One thing that is important is that you do your analysis on a legally
obtained copy of the software. You'll perform copyright infringement
yourself if you don't.
> 
> I understand that all these questions are "country/law" dependent,
> but I thought that there could be somewhere where these
> questions/answers could be centralized, and that gpl-violations could
> be such place ...

You would need someone who keeps an eye on changes in the law too...
What's correct today may be wrong next year.

Peter.