The law doesn't prevent you from examining the cab, talking about the idea of a cab, or producing your own cab service, preferably with better air freshners. Of course, this is going by the assumption that you didn't sign a lifetime NDA or EULA license to to contrary.
Oh, yes it does!
NYC has the medallion system. There are a finite number of medallions. Each medallion is a cheap piece of tin that's riveted to the hood of the taxi. The medallion sells for a serious multiple of the value of the taxi itself.
Other cities use other taxi licensing systems.
BTW, the NYC Hack Bureau is a truly byzantine bureaucracy. If you hate software licenses, you'll fry your synapses on Hack Bureau arcana. You see, not only are the taxis regulated, but the drivers have to jump through an amazing number of hoops. (I went about halfway through the process back in '70 or '71 until about three weeks into it, with umpteen subway miles under my belt spent traveling between various hellholes (to interview various licensed companies, to see if I could get sponsored) and back and forth to the Hack Bureau at the Coleseum, filling out mile of forms after mile of forms, I said screw it and went to work for the Post Office.)
If you "clone" the cab, using either a counterfeit medallion, or run a "gypsy" cab without a medallion, you are breaking the law.
Nice try, though. Thanks for playing.