Copying what someone else has already done makes little sense, the pace of the marketplace being what it is today.

While you're copying someone else's work, they're developing the next version, which presumably corrects the weaknesses of the current version and adds enhancements.

If you're trying to learn "how they did it," ... well, that's another story.

Here in the U.S. we have a patent system, the purpose of which is to promote technological progress by protecting an inventor's right to protect his invention while telling people what, exactly, he invented and how it differs from and improves over "prior art." The implied strength of this sort of system is that it promotes progress by allowing competitors to see how a technology works without giving them the right to use it as-is.

With firmware, once understood, it's not rocket-science to figure out a "better" way that differs enough to discourage any copyright infringement lawsuit.

I, frankly, have never made a dime by using someone else's technology. I've always preferred to produce my own. That way I was comfortable taking responsibility for it.

RE