--
johnny cypherpunk wrote:
> I'm concerned about ECC patents. I read that there
> are claims that point compression is patented. Has
> anyone ever used it in a commercial or open-source
> software package and gotten a C&D letter from a
> lawyer?
>
> Has anyone ever gotten in trouble for using the ECDSA
> implementation in crypto++?
No one can say what is patented or unpatented, due to
consistently unpredictable behavior by the courts,
submarine patents, and the like. No one has gotten into
trouble for using ECDSA, but some deep pockets people
have paid serious money to patent holders, which might
incline one to suppose they faced real threats of
serious trouble, but it was never revealed precisely
what they paying for, and I doubt that they themselves
know. Threats of patent action do not take the form
"Step four in line thirty seven of your software is a
violation of your patent", rather they take the form
"Nice business, shame if something were to happen to
it".
Apple recently paid one hundred million dollars for the
use of hierarchical menus in their ipod, despite the
fact that the patent describes an exercise in the
Microsoft development kit that existed long before this
patent, but everyone else uses hierarchical menus
without a care in the world. So prior art and
obviousness does not make you safe, nor does the fact
that people with deep pockets pay serious money to avoid
patent lawsuits imply that you should do the same.
People pay out on patents much as western governments
give handouts to Hamas and the PLO, obfuscating why they
are doing it.
If you have deep pockets, no amount of compliance can
make you safe from patent lawsuits, but if you do not
have deep pockets, no amount of flagrant violation is
likely to expose you to risk.
On current interpretation of patent laws, if you have
deep pockets, then getting up in the morning and having
breakfast violates the patent laws.
--digsig
James A. Donald
6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG
Qi3muYQjtIK+NocE1cAtlihqx1yuKnZpR1hty0kW
4uAkkuCTTqgKhJb49O4LbIsUlnJueKpa8ogbVCmRq
