We are about to start a competitive product and to do so we need to look at the competition. If someone you know has a legal copy of a competitive product, is it illegal to make some screenshots in order to remember certain things for your solution? What do I need to know?
Thank you.
I'd speak with an attorney and read the license agreement very thoroughly.
However, I think taking screen shots of an application that you paid for is legal. (This is not legal advice, just my thoughts.)
You can look at their software within the terms of any applicable license. This often includes a clause that denies permission to reverse-engineer the application, so you could be in shaky territory if, for example, you bought a license, had a play and used your experiences to write an application based on what the original application did. This isn't so much a question of taking screen shots but more linked to any license you've signed up to either via a tickbox or inherently as part of terms of use.
Can you not "clean-room" it in the same way that chips are reverse-engineered?
Have one team document the user interface (redrawing the screens, not just taking screenshots), and passing the documentation to the other team?
It worked for the chip companies :)
We do not know the licensing terms of this product you're competing against. We do not know in which country you live.
Hire a professional lawyer. Give him the license agreement of the product in question to read.
Andrew Rollings is correct use a "clean room" and redraw the screens by hand and paraphrase any text.
The absolute last thing you want in your possession is actual screen shots and copyrighted text when the lawyers start the discovery process. Particularly you don't want screenshots of their software in your development documentation.
Hire a team of contractors none of whom will ever meet or speak with your development team.
In this circumstance, the end result is typically going to be more important than the process. Like kloucks says, you don't want screenshots or word-for-word text in your posession as evidence, but you may also find yourself in danger of copyright infringement if your software to closely mirrors your competitors. While a feature comparison can be useful in establishing the marketplace, be wary of mirroring interface or layout (although I understand that certain ideas have only so many permutations).
You should be alright if you stay within any license, and a specialist lawyer may be entirely optional (depending on the size of both your team/firm, and the competition). Typically, similar entries are harder to discourage due to measures such as anti-monopoly laws, but this varies extremely by both state (United States) and country.
This does not constitute legal advice and I hope to be in no way responsible for whatever terrible outcomes may befall you (I do wish you the best of luck though!).