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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