Impact and Subsequent Developments
One commentator, Professor Rice, maintains that Bonito Boats must be understood to prevent states from passing laws against such “rights” as that of fair use and reverse engineering. He argues:
Bonito Boats stilled any remaining doubts. It is inconceivable, in the wake of Bonito Boats, that the Court would sustain trade secret law which was recast to make reverse engineering unlawful.
Congress subsequently enacted the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act (VHDPA) as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, providing copyright-like or sui generis protection to boat hull designs, under a registration system something like that of the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act (SCPA). Since the VHDPA is a federal statute, it is not subject to preemption by the patent law or other federal statutory law, but it is possible that constitutional problems might exist under the patent clause of the Constitution.
The VHDPA was too late for Bonito Boats, however. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, Bonito Boats went out of business July 19, 1991.
Read more about this topic: Bonito Boats, Inc. V. Thunder Craft Boats, Inc.
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