Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rochester!pt!nl.cs.cmu.edu!mlm From: mlm@nl.cs.cmu.edu (Michael Mauldin) Newsgroups: sci.crypt Subject: Re: non-RSA public-key encryption systems Message-ID: <12@nl.cs.cmu.edu> Date: Sun, 5-Jul-87 22:13:57 EDT Article-I.D.: nl.12 Posted: Sun Jul 5 22:13:57 1987 Date-Received: Mon, 6-Jul-87 06:37:01 EDT References: <8248@utzoo.UUCP> Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 23 Summary: Question about patenting algorithms I have heard Michael Shamos of Unilogic (who is both a practicing attorney and a PhD in Computer Science) lecture on copyrights, patents, trade secrets and trademarks on several occasions. Each time, he has said that one cannot patent algorithms (at least in the US). There is an exclusion clause that says you cannot patent something that can be done "with pencil and paper," so algorithms by themselves are not protectable. One way around this is to patent a system with an algorithm embedded in it. The system then enjoys patent protection. So ROM code in firmware is protected along with the rest of the device using it. How does this relate to the legal status of RSA? Is it just Rivest's special purpose chip that is patented? A particular setting of some of the parameters? Or are all exponentiation ciphers (M^e mod pq) protected? I can find no mention in Denning82 "Cryptography and Data Security" that the RSA scheme of public key encryption is patented. Surely she would have mentioned it. Michael L. Mauldin (Fuzzy) Department of Computer Science ARPA: Michael.Mauldin@NL.CS.CMU.EDU Carnegie-Mellon University Phone: (412) 268-3065 Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890