legal software development question

hello
i have a legal software development question:
can i implement a feature of an existing software in my own software?

let me to discuss my problem with a sample:

there is a shareware image compression software on market.
i have never used reverse engineering to decompile or looking this software source code.
but with a little try, i can found how it is work.
(for example by comparing a non-compressed image with an image that compressed with this software)
now, can i do same work in my own software with my own implementation?

re: legal software development question

Heya, max. Welcome to TSDN!

If you want legal advice, I recommend going to a lawyer.

TINLA, but it sounds like you'd be copying the feature, not the code. If this were illegal, Microsoft would be out of business.

re: legal software development question

Nice! That's exactly what I was thinking.

If you didn't copy their code, I don't see any issue, but as pbmods says, we are not lawyers. Talking to a lawyer (consult) is usually free of charge so I would take that route, especially if you plan on putting your software out there.

re: legal software development question

thanx for your replies
but i couldn't find any online lawyer about my problem
would you mind help me to find once?
(give me a link/web or keyword to search)

re: legal software development question

Ok, searching for lawyers on google is like looking up doctors in a phone book. Its pretty much an overload of information. My recommendation would be to search your local area instead of the internet.

Regards,

Jeff