Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: sci.crypt Subject: Re: encryption with public keys Message-ID: <7452@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Mon, 29-Dec-86 21:44:39 EST Article-I.D.: utzoo.7452 Posted: Mon Dec 29 21:44:39 1986 Date-Received: Mon, 29-Dec-86 21:44:39 EST References: <3072@ihuxf.UUCP> <9001@duke.duke.UUCP> <7447@utzoo.UUCP> <230@gaia.UUCP>, <2050@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 34 > Anyway, the original posting to sci.crypt concerned someone writing and > publishing a public domain RSA package- you sure don't need a lawyer to > do *that*... You may shortly thereafter need lawyers, though, to defend against a patent-infringement suit! Seriously, it is *not* obvious that doing such a thing would not constitute infringement. It is not sufficient to have a plausible argument that what you're doing isn't infringement; you have to make the court agree. > Patents reserve the right to make, use and sell artifacts > which are narrowly and explicitly defined in the claims of the patent. > Research and the disclosure of the fruits thereof are not among the > [proscribed] activities, as far as I can tell. Making, using or selling such > a program seems quite distinct from developing (i.e., inventing) it. I fear I am unable to follow the distinction being made here; can you explain in more detail? I am told that the RSA patent is, essentially, on the RSA algorithm itself, not on any specific implementation of it (in the same way that the patent on the geodesic dome covers all geodesic domes, no matter what materials they use or how they are erected). This would appear to reserve the right to make, use, and sell RSA-algorithm encryption systems. I fail to see how "making" such a system can be distinguished from "developing (i.e., inventing)" it. > A patent, even a valid and strong one (a minority) doesn't confer the right > to make every other thinker curl up and die. It just confers the right to require him to pay royalties for practical uses of results of your thinking. Think about RSA all you want, but using it for practical purposes is a different matter. -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry