Chris Zimman wrote:
>
> This is a question for the lawyers. That said, there is a sentiment that
> there exist sideline patents that may protect RSA beyond the expiration of
> this patent. The *only* algorithm this applies to is the RSA public key
> algorithm. None of the other algorithms (RC4, RC5, etc.) are affected.
1) There is only one relevant patent -- it covers RSA with
any number of primes, and expires Sept 20. Most of the PKP
patents have already expired, some have been repudiated.
2) RC4 is not patented, and is only protected by trademark --
claiming compatibility with RC4 is not an infringement if
you give notice that RC4 is a trademark of RSA Security.
Ditto with RC2. You may recall that RC4 was a trade secret,
but such protection extends only as long as an item is kept
secret, and the algorithm was posted many moons ago to a
public mailing list.
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