Right, and that's where I question whether the "clean room" is something that is
morally necessary.
If it's okay to copy something in the legal way that Compaq did it, why is it not legal to skip the clean room and just copy a design?
I don't mean espionage and actual stealing of code/schematics (I don't think many Chinese companies engage in that, contrary to the perception). I mean, the company buys the product, inspects it, then copies it.
If Compaq had done that directly, it would have been illegal, but the outcome would have been the same as the clean room design.
I question the merits of having that level of copy protection where reverse engineering is only legal in a specific and arbitrarily convoluted way. To me it seems like that idea might encourage monopolies and higher prices for everyone.