As was reported earlier, William Friedman
was just issued a patent for a Enigma-style
rotary encryption device:
http://www.patents.ibm.com/details?&pn=US06097812__&s_all=1
It's worth noting that it took over 67 years
for this to move from 'patent pending' to
'patent issued'. Claim 1 seems to claim
to cover *all* rotary, enigma-style mechanisms:
1. In a cryptograph, a keyboard comprising
character elements in operative electrical
connection with corresponding signaling
elements; means comprising a set of juxtaposed,
rotatable commutators for varying the connections
between the keyboard elements and said signaling
elements; a cipher-key transmitter; and means
coordinated with the transmitter to effect
permutative, stepwise displacements of the
commutators.
What are the consequences? Can Friedman's estate now
sue Crypto AG for infringing devices sold in the US?
Can Lucent (the heir of Bell Labs) be made to pony up
royalities for each installation of a system including
crypt()? Can the estate get back-royalties for every
device the US government built using these principles?
While this may seem far-fetched to sane people, idle
American lawyers hands are the Devil's playground.
Peter Trei
