On the robustness of clone detection to code obfuscation

Code clones are a common reuse mechanism in software development. While there is an ongoing discussion about harmfulness and advantages of code cloning, this discussion is mainly centered around aspects of software quality. However, recent research has shown, that code cloning may have legal implications as well such as license violations. From this point of view, a developer may favor to hide his cloning activities. To this end, he could obfuscate the cloned code to deceive clone detectors. However, it is unknown how robust certain clone detection techniques are against code obfuscations. In this paper, we present a framework for semi-automated code obfuscations. Additionally, we present a case study to evaluate the robustness of selected clone detectors against such obfuscations.