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Definition: clean room technique


A procedure for cloning an existing product. The functionality of the original product is carefully defined by one group of people, who may have to use reverse engineering to obtain all the details. The resulting functional specifications are then given to an entirely different group to code or build a similar product.

This method was developed to ensure that the final product does not infringe on patents or copyrights of the original because its design was determined without knowledge of the inner workings of the original. Also known as the "Chinese Wall" approach, this has nothing to do with semiconductor clean rooms (see clean room). See clone, reverse engineer and functional specification.