Cryptography Reference
In-Depth Information
•
Two, you can have your algorithm patented. This is (fortunately) not
possible in Germany, but it is in other countries, including the USA and
Switzerland.
Trying to get your algorithm patented can often backfire. For example, the
Swiss IDEA patent is applicable in Germany, too. Many people thought
the fees for commercial use were too high. According to a vendor of
cryptographic products, he would never pay such an amount just for
an algorithm. The consequence was that people held on to DES, even
in critical banking applications. The vendors of IDEA apparently hurt
themselves with too dashing an attempt to make money. Also, an IDEA
chip found little attention in the industry. Apart from
Brokat
, the bank-
ing software mentioned in Section 5.3 and used at Deutsche Telekom, I
haven't heard of IDEA being commercially used in a long time.
The claim made by PKP (Public Key Partners) to cover all asymmet-
ric methods with their patent led to a temporary preference for the
Diffie - Hellman method from autumn 1997 onwards, because that meth-
od's patent was the first to expire after 17 years. RSA can also be used
without restrictions since September 20, 2000. These patents apply only
in the USA and in Canada.
The RC5 patent was to bring its owner, RSA Laboratories, small and per-
haps one-time license fees for using this algorithm commercially (private use
remained free). The patent's purpose — financing other research work at RSA
Laboratories — was acceptable in any event. Would it have been a meaningful
concept? RC6, the improved successor, would have had to remain free from
patent, according to the AES challenge, had it won. It didn't, and RC6 is now
patented nevertheless. But Rijndael, the AES winner, is free and commonly
used. What does the patent for RC6 bring? The question about RC5 licenses
has also become less interesting. It will certainly not be enough to finance the
RSA firm.
I'm not the only one who thinks that patents and cryptographic algorithms
don't go well together.
8.2.5 Digital Signatures
Germany passed a law for legal acceptance of digital signatures (
signature
law
) in August 1997. This initiative was initially seen as progress (I thought
so, too, as you can read in earlier editions), and people hoped it would have a
positive effect.
