Rebuilding from decompiled assembly code is really not the same as ctrl+c, ctrl+v from the original source.
That's pretty much the definition of analyzing what the compiled binary does and recreating it.
And even then, the code derived from decompilation can, and usually will, be quite different from the original source code.
Even more so if written in a different language.
I, OTOH, don't see how they can win this.
But TBH I don't really care about laws and regulations.
What matters to me is the underlying principles, and whether they are valid in the first place.
Good luck to the re guys.
So if I disassemble something, optimise one routine, reassemble it/post my modded disassembly I am free and clear? If not then two routines? Three? You reckon rewriting code in another language, for the sake of argument a whole equivalent output setup rather than an emulation of the previously seen instructions, suddenly makes me the new creator of a work? Do we have to have some kind of test a la the sample tests in music copyright discussions?
Scanning in 10000 book pages is a tedious process, does not mean I can turn around and distribute it.
I can't cover a song with my own instruments, microphone, recording time and go from there without giving some consideration to the songwriter or copyright holder thereof if a different entity. I don't think we can really call this code a parody either.
Ditto scanning in however many frames for a film is tedious. Does not mean I own the rights to the underlying film (and any secondary distribution for soundtrack using other works).
Copyright law in general also tends to not care about exact (though having exact is a consideration) as much as does it represent unfair competition for the original work; at no point did the makers of these projects having to figure out car physics, walk speeds, reaction times for gunplay, draw distance limitations, how not to make the lighting as they copied it all from Rockstar's efforts. How that is anything but basic unfair competition by means of a derived work I do not know.
Underlying principles, fundamental rights, what is necessary for things to actually keep ticking are great things to look to as well. Don't see how we can allow people to take code covered by copyright, disassemble, tweak a few things and have them be able to release it (even for free and without intention of remuneration*) and not have the entire industry collapse. It is the entire thing it is based upon, and up until more recently when decompilers became a more practical concept (though even then still needing skilled operators) the whole thing with compilation being considered as a one way affair posing the practical limit to it as well.
*really quite hard to separate in these days of advertising funded websites, crowdfunding, ebegging, donations and whatnot.
The object of the copyright isn't the video format or representation, it's the video itself.
Games are code by definition. The code itself is copyrighted, along with the assets.
By your definition, nothing could ever be Reverse-engineered.
That would be an example of the competition thing being similar enough. Just because I downscaled the 4k blu to SD does not mean I suddenly own the film.
On reverse engineering being allowed then we do have to ponder laws (whether they are implicit or explicit, that being if the law says nothing on the matter then consider it OK vs if the law says this is not OK then it is not OK).
Here though there are some generally accepted paths and reasons to allow it. As this is not in the traditional clean room regime (not even close) then as we are not concerned with whether Rockstar stole the code from someone, some kind of accessibility, security purposes, probably not going to reach a criticism/review, education is likely not on the cards for this, parody would also be a struggle as mentioned above, fixing broken DRM (still an actively maintained game it seems), museum work (or one of the various things the librarian gets to add to DMCA reviews every few years, assuming they even apply to games which many things the game industry fights tooth and nail to prevent from applying to them), making cheats in single player games (multiplayer can be tricky here) we are left with interoperability of code between platforms, and that generally considered as being to limited to figuring out why my emulator is not working, what APIs it is using or similar, not posting wholesale recreations of every aspect of the code to the public.
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