This really is a "spirit of the game" kind of call: See this(
http://www.usaultimate.org/about/ult..._the_game.aspx
For a variety of reasons.
1. I don't know of anyone thats ever been busted for this (but I may be wrong)
2. This is an educational experience, so please don't hinder yourself
3. Don't violate the Non Disclosure Agreement you may have signed because you found something out about the game before everyone else. So now not only are you in legal trouble, but you clearly can't be in competition also.
My take on it is go ahead and do something with your time and teach yourself, the chances of you using an entire design without any significant modification is pretty close to you being on Shark Week because of a Shark Bite. But hey, teams use the same drive train design repeatedly without any problems. So I think offseason research & development of drivetrains is pretty close to legal.
Also consider: next year's rules haven't been finalized yet, so you really have a
chicken before the egg type problem and you won't find the answer out until the FIRST Official Q&A opens up again.