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From: tjt@lll-risky.arpa (Tim Tessin)
Newsgroups: sci.crypt,comp.misc
Subject: Re: public key encryption and RSA patent status
Message-ID: <107@lll-risky.arpa>
Date: Mon, 28-Sep-87 12:48:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: lll-risk.107
Posted: Mon Sep 28 12:48:58 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 29-Sep-87 06:02:30 EDT
Reply-To: tjt@lll-tis.arpa (Tim Tessin)
Lines: 23
Xref: mnetor sci.crypt:587 comp.misc:1355

In article <10307@duke.cs.duke.edu> srt@duke.UUCP (Stephen R. Tate) writes:
> 
> I mentioned before that I have a copy of a public key cryptosystem
> using RSA that has been released in the public domain.  So how is
> this effected?  One possible point is that the person who wrote it
> lives in Canada.  Does this mean he doesn't have to abide by US
> Patents?  How about importing such a thing into the US?  Maybe the
> guy is just not aware that it is patented and should be notified?

Or he doesn't care.  Legally, it is RSA's job to go after him and anyone
using that "public domain" version.  If they don't, then the patent rights
can be challenged on the basis that they don't enforce them.  
What are the chances of getting caught if you are not distributing the 
stuff?  Probably, close to zero.  We have been
advised by our legal staff to always go to the source of a "public domain"
release and obtain the necessary information from the author to insure
that the stuff is really "public domain" before we incorporate it into
anything other than our own hacking.

Tim Tessin - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 
Phone: (415) 423-4560 / 422-8971
ARPA:  tjt@lll-tis.ARPA
UUCP:  {ihnp4,dual,sun}!lll-lcc!lll-tis!tjt