baldwin@mit-eddie.UUCP (Robert W. Baldwin) (07/25/85)
To: Whom It May Concern From: Ronald L. Rivest NE43-324, 545 Technology Square, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science Cambridge Mass. 02139 (Phone: 617-253-5880, ARPA: RIVEST@MIT-MC) Date: July 22, 1985 Re: RSA Patent This letter is in response to a number of inquiries that were received regarding the RSA cryptosystem, stimulated by recent articles and letters in BYTE magazine (and elsewhere). Yes, the RSA cryptosystem is patented, by MIT. The U.S. patent number is 4,405,829. To my knowledge there are no foreign patents. If you read the patent, you will discover that it is not an "algorithm" patent. It does not matter how (i.e. with what algorithm) the RSA computation is performed, only that the cryptographic communications system has black boxes for doing that computation. I believe the patent is well-drafted and would stand up to challenge easily. It covers both software and hardware implementations. MIT has granted an exclusive sublicense on the patent to a new company called "RSA Security, Inc.". This company was founded by the inventors of the RSA cryptosystem (myself, Adi Shamir, and Len Adleman). The objective of the company is to commercialize and exploit the RSA cryptosystem, through a variety of techniques, including direct end-user product sales (software systems such as COMSAFE (TM) and MAILSAFE (TM) for the IBM PC), sales custom chips for performing RSA computations, consulting for integrating RSA into applications, joint venture arrangements, sublicenses, standards, etc. RSA Security is eager to work with those who have an interest in using the RSA cryptosystem. If you would like more information, please contact either myself or Ralph Bennett President, RSA Security Inc. 1717 Karameos Drive Sunnyvale, California 94087 (408) 730-8701
lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein) (07/26/85)
That would seem to tell the story pretty clearly. They went one step beyond the "algorithm" patents sometimes used, and instead patented the underlying concept, which covers all algorithms which relate to that concept. This would seem to pretty clearly indicate that "ideas" such as RSA can be granted patents. --Lauren--
asw@rlvd.UUCP (Antony Williams) (08/22/85)
In article <4776@mit-eddie.UUCP> rivest%mc@mit-eddie.UUCP (Ronald L. Rivest) writes: >Yes, the RSA cryptosystem is patented, by MIT. The U.S. patent number is >4,405,829. To my knowledge there are no foreign patents. If you read the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ . . . >MIT has granted an exclusive sublicense on the patent to a new company >called "RSA Security, Inc.". This company was founded by the inventors >of the RSA cryptosystem (myself, Adi Shamir, and Len Adleman). The objective and yet: In article <9028@ucbvax.ARPA> phr@ucbvax.ARPA (Paul Rubin) writes: >The following letter appeared in the July, 1985 issue of BYTE magazine. > ... The letter: > > ... Charles Kluepfel described an > implementation of the RSA Public Key algorithm and the BASIC code required. > Unfortunately, he did not reference that this RSA Public Key Cryptosystem > was patented by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983 > (U.S. Patent 4,405,829). The worldwide exclusive license to this patent ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > was then purchased from MIT by RSA Security Inc., a company founded by > the inventors of the RSA algorithm to develop this technology. Can someone clarify this discrepancy? Do RS&A have worldwide exclusive rights to exploit a US patent in countries where the technique is not patented? What would that mean? Tony Williams -------------------------------------------------- UK JANET: asw@uk.ac.rl.vd Usenet: {... | mcvax}!ukc!rlvd!asw ARPAnet: asw%rlvd@ucl-cs.arpa
jpm@calmasd.UUCP (John McNally) (09/05/85)
>Antony Williams reports: >> In article <4776@mit-eddie.UUCP> rivest%mc@mit-eddie.UUCP (Ronald L. Rivest) writes: >> >Yes, the RSA cryptosystem is patented, by MIT. The U.S. patent number is >> >4,405,829. To my knowledge there are no foreign patents. If you read the >> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >> . . . >> >MIT has granted an exclusive sublicense on the patent to a new company >> >called "RSA Security, Inc.". This company was founded by the inventors >> >of the RSA cryptosystem (myself, Adi Shamir, and Len Adleman). The objective >> I never received Rivest's posting quoted above. Since I originally requested a response from one of the trio in a previous article in this newsgroup, I would appreciate it if someone would re-post the Rivest article or mail me a copy. I wonder what happened? "There appears to be a small black hole very close to our system because it is causing odd perturbations. It is called /dev/null." -- John McNally Calma 11080 Roselle St. San Diego CA 92121 ...{ucbvax,decvax}!sdcsvax!calmasd!jpm (619)-458-3230
asw@rlvd.UUCP (Antony Williams) (09/23/85)
In article <566@calmasd.UUCP> jpm@calmasd.UUCP (John McNally) writes: >>> >I never received Rivest's posting quoted above. Since I >originally requested a response from one of the trio in a previous >article in this newsgroup, I would appreciate it if someone would >re-post the Rivest article or mail me a copy. I wonder what >happened? I managed to find a copy, appended here: Subject: Response from R of RSA Re: patent Message-ID: <4776@mit-eddie.UUCP> Date: 25 Jul 85 15:16:05 GMT Date-Received: 2 Aug 85 08:49:17 GMT References: <1975@ukma.UUCP> <718@vortex.UUCP> Reply-To: rivest%mc@mit-eddie.UUCP (Ronald L. Rivest) Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA Lines: 39 Xpath: warwick ubu To: Whom It May Concern >From: Ronald L. Rivest NE43-324, 545 Technology Square, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science Cambridge Mass. 02139 (Phone: 617-253-5880, ARPA: RIVEST@MIT-MC) Date: July 22, 1985 Re: RSA Patent This letter is in response to a number of inquiries that were received regarding the RSA cryptosystem, stimulated by recent articles and letters in BYTE magazine (and elsewhere). Yes, the RSA cryptosystem is patented, by MIT. The U.S. patent number is 4,405,829. To my knowledge there are no foreign patents. If you read the patent, you will discover that it is not an "algorithm" patent. It does not matter how (i.e. with what algorithm) the RSA computation is performed, only that the cryptographic communications system has black boxes for doing that computation. I believe the patent is well-drafted and would stand up to challenge easily. It covers both software and hardware implementations. MIT has granted an exclusive sublicense on the patent to a new company called "RSA Security, Inc.". This company was founded by the inventors of the RSA cryptosystem (myself, Adi Shamir, and Len Adleman). The objective of the company is to commercialize and exploit the RSA cryptosystem, through a variety of techniques, including direct end-user product sales (software systems such as COMSAFE (TM) and MAILSAFE (TM) for the IBM PC), sales custom chips for performing RSA computations, consulting for integrating RSA into applications, joint venture arrangements, sublicenses, standards, etc. RSA Security is eager to work with those who have an interest in using the RSA cryptosystem. If you would like more information, please contact either myself or Ralph Bennett President, RSA Security Inc. 1717 Karameos Drive Sunnyvale, California 94087 (408) 730-8701 -- -------------------------------------------------- UK JANET: asw@uk.ac.rl.vd Usenet: {... | mcvax}!ukc!rlvd!asw ARPAnet: asw%rlvd@ucl-cs.arpa