Similarly you cannot reverse engineer a car and use that knowledge to build a replica to sell or to mass produce copies for your company to use.
Yes, actually you can... that's why the whole aftermarket exists. AFAIK it is trademark law that prevents you from selling a true replica, but otherwise how do you think all those compatible parts --- in fact many of them better than OEM --- were created?
You can build an entire small-block Chevy and not use any parts manufactured by GM, for example. The same goes for the rest of the vehicle. Even replacement body panels are available.
The main difference is that software has zero cost to copy, whereas trying to create an entire car from 100% aftermarket parts would cost many times more than the real thing.
Yes, actually you can... that's why the whole aftermarket exists. AFAIK it is trademark law that prevents you from selling a true replica, but otherwise how do you think all those compatible parts --- in fact many of them better than OEM --- were created?
You can build an entire small-block Chevy and not use any parts manufactured by GM, for example. The same goes for the rest of the vehicle. Even replacement body panels are available.
The main difference is that software has zero cost to copy, whereas trying to create an entire car from 100% aftermarket parts would cost many times more than the real thing.